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CONSUI. WILSHIRE BUTTERFIELD. 



HISTORY 



of 



LIEUTENANT-COLONEL 



George Rogers Clark's 



Conquest of the Illinois and of the 

Wabash Towns from the 

British in 1778 and 1779 



Vith Sketches of the Earlier and Later Career of the Conqueror 



By 



CONSUL WILTSHIRE BUTTERFIELD 

Author of the "History of the Discovery of the Northwest by 

John Nicolet, in 1634;" "History of the Girtys;" 

"History of Brule's Discoveries and Explorations, 

1610-1626;" and Other Works. 



PRESS OF F. J. HEER 
Nineteen Hundred and Three 



LIBRARY 


*f congress] 


Two C« 


pies 


Received 


MAR 


17 


1904 


OLASS 

n 


rigM 


Efltry 
XXc. No, 



Entered according to the Act of Congress 
in the year 1904 

BY FRED. J. HEER 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress 
at Washington 



Preface. ix 



CONSUL WILSHIRE BUTTERFIELD — 
HISTORIAN. 

BY W. H. HUNTER, CHILLICOTHE, OHIO. 
1902. 

Consul Wilshlre Butterfield, the famous Historian, was 
born near the village of Colosse, Oswego County, New York, 
July 28, 1824, He was of Knickerbocker stock, his father's 
people coming to America in 1634. His parents^ Amroy But- 
terfield and Mary Lamb Butterfield, immigrated -from Brattle- 
boro, Vermont, to the State of New York. 

Consul Wilshire Butterfield died at his home in South 
Omaha, Nebraska, on Monday, September 25, 1899. At noon 
Mr. Butterfield appeared to be in usual exuberant spirits and 
was apparently in good health. Shortly after two o'clock he 
decided to visit his near neighbor, Mr. O'Connor, and while 
he was ascending the steps to the O'Connor residence was 
stricken with a sinking spell, from which he never rallied. 
When it was known that Mr. Butterfield was seriously ill, 
neighbors conveyed him to his home and summoned a phy- 
sician, who pronounced life extinct on his arrival. 

Ripe in years he passed to his reward; and thus ended the 
earthly career of a man whose achievements marked him as a 
genius and his memory will be cherished as long as letters are 
a factor of progress. When he died a noble spirit took its 
"earthless flight;" a lovable husband was taken from a happy 
home ; a kind father was separated from a daughter who cher- 
ished every fiber of his being. 

Mr. Butterfield lived a long and busy life. He was even 
at work when came the summons that called his spirit hence. 

While Mr. Butterfield stood alone as writer of American 
history that has relation to the American Indian and the Pio- 
neer, he was the most modest of men. He never sought re- 
nown. He loved his fellows, and his work was his pleasure. 
In a letter to the writer he said his whole ambition was to 
record the truth ; to this end his life was consecrated, and 
his many historical works, all recognized as authorities and 
to which all other writers must go for information, attest the 
sincerity of his statement. 



X Preface. 

While not so graphic in style as Parkman, he was always 
accurate. He never printed as a fact in history any incident 
or statement until he had examined every authority to ascer- 
tain the truth. His style v^as direct; he never employed a 
superfluous word and his work was always comprehensive. 

A profound historical scholar, an indefatigable worker, he 
left as his monument numerous books invaluable to the stu- 
dent and the reader. Mr. Butterfield was a genius ; he never 
worked for money. The word money seldom came to his 
mind; his achievement was not the accumulation of wealth. 
His masterful efforts directed along other lines of human en- 
deavor would have procured a fortune, as the world under- 
stands fortune. But he wrote history as a patriot performs 
a service for his country, without pay, as the world under- 
stands pa3^ He devoted his life to work that few men could 
perform. Working night and day, he accomplished much, and 
the world of letters is richer because he lived. He was one 
of those sweet souls whose devotion to patriotic duty was a 
sacrifice of pleasure, as the world knows pleasure. He never 
made money, for his works were not of the popular-novel 
character demanded by the mass of those who read history. 
Indeed it took much of his time to correct the errors set 
forth by men who wrote history for the money results. 

Writers of Butterfield's bent and attainments are so rare 
that, when discovered, the state should possess their talents 
and thus give the people the benefit of all their time, for it 
is too valuable to be given up to bread-winning; and men who 
write history, as Mr. Butterfield wrote history, cannot make 
money selling books. 

The production of one of his works is an achievement 
greater than coining wealth; while thousands can coin money, 
only one could do the work Butterfield did. But Butterfield 
never received the one-thousandth part of the wealth that other 
men receive for like expenditure of nerve-force in other lines 
of labor. While rich men spend millions to establish libraries 
which reduce the sale of books such as he wrote, there are 
men writing books at their own expense, we might say, to fill 
the shelves of these libraries, who scarcely afford a roof they 
can call their own. There should be equity in philanthropy : 
It is easier for an iron king to put up library buildings than 
it is for rnen like Butterfield to fill their shelve?, 



Preface. xi 

Mr. Butterfield was admired not only for his great ability 
manifest in his literary achievements, but for his generous, 
kindly spirit and his sincerity as a friend. His was an un- 
selfish life; his time was given for the benefit of others It 
was always a pleasure to him to aid the student of history, 
and in response to a mere suggestion he wrote a chapter on 
Fort Laurens for the Pathfinders of Jefferson county, although 
at the time he was ill and was engaged on important work of 
his own; and this chapter was the labor of several days. He 
loved his friends of whom he must have had many, for no 
one of his great ability and kindly nature could pass in and 
out among the activities of life without gaining the apprecia- 
tion of his fellowmen. He always spoke kindly of friends. 
The writer of this cherishes more than all else the kind words 
written of him to a mutual friend, and ever will be green the 
writer's memory of this man who is at rest. 

Mr. Butterfield was always particularly fond of music and 
poetry, of children and of all kinds of pets. He considered 
Shakespeare the one great genius, but the poets he studied 
and most admired were Milton, and our own Bryant. In a 
letter to the writer after his death, Alice Butterfield said of 
her father : "Though not a church member, his faith in the 
immortality of the soul was strong, as evidenced by a great 
many little things easy to perceive, but hard to write about." 

His home-life was quiet and uneventful. He loved his 
family, and his wife and daughter were devoted to him. and 
all were happy in their little circle. 

Order was the keynote of his method of labor. He did 
not await the moving influence of the spirit, but wrote regu- 
larly a certain length of time, (preferably the morning hours) 
each day, much as any one would go about a business enter- 
prise. At times, though, when becoming much engrossed in 
his' subject he would keep right on until compelled to quit 
from sheer exhaustion. 

Mr. Butterfield's writing was always done at his home. 
His desk was in the sitting-room, and he was not easily dis- 
turbed. His daughter, in answer to inquiry, wrote : "As to 
how father would come to select a certain subject upon which 
to write a book, I do not know; but imagine he would be- 
come interested in a particular historical character or event 
from general reading and then if he considered it inadequately 



xii Preface. 

represented he would determine to elaborate upon the subject 
himself." 

A correspondent writing to Mr. Butterfield, expressed sur- 
prise that any one living in South Omaha, in far away Ne- 
braska, could write a book showing so much research as 
Brule; but accepted it as a possibility if Mr. Butterfield had an- 
extensive private library. Mr. Butterfield, in speaking of this, 
quoted "extensive private library" as a jest; for it is a fact, 
fifty to one hundred books would be the size of his library at 
any one time, though he was constantly changing it and a 
large number of books passed through his hands. In speak- 
ing of this incident Miss Butterfield said : "I remember hav- 
ing remarked at the time that there was not so much in hav- 
ing a lot of information at one's elbow as there was in know- 
ing how to get what one wanted, and father responded, 
'That's just it exactly;' and it seems to me that to this ability 
to get the information he wanted his merit as a historian is 
largely due." Mrs. Butterfield was his proof-reader, she be- 
ing a person of literary attainments. 

In 1834 Mr. Butterfield's father's family removed from 
New York to Melmore, Seneca County, Ohio. At the age of 
eighteen Butterfield commenced teaching a district school in 
Omar, Chautauqua. County, N. Y. He afterward attended 
the Normal School in Albany for two terms, but his health 
failing, he left the school to take a trip to Europe. He re- 
turned in 1846 coming to Seneca Countj^ Ohio, where his 
parents had located in 1834. 

The next year he wrote a history of Seneca County which 
was published in 1848. In 1847 he was elected Superintend- 
ent of the Seneca County schools. Early in 1849 he resigned 
this position to make an overland trip to California. The next 
year he was an independent candidate in that state for Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction, but was defeated by a few 
votes. He returned to Ohio in 1851 and finished a course in 
law which he had commenced in San Francisco, and in 1855 
he entered upon the practice of his profession in Bucyrus, 
Crawford County, relinquishing it in 1875. 

In 1854 he served as Secretary of the Ohio and Indiana 
Railroad Company, and while engaged in this occupation 
found time to write "A Comprehensive System of Grammat- 
ical and Rhetorical Punctuation," which was printed, but 



Preface. xiii 

afterward suppressed. An abridgement of the book was pub- 
lished in 1878, this pubUcation becoming a very popular work 
and was introduced into many schools. 

After quitting the practice of law he devoted his time to 
literary pursuits, having, however, previously written "An 
Historical Account of the Expedition Against Sandusky, under 
Col. WilHam Crawford, in 1782." This book written in Bucy- 
rus, Ohio, was issued from the press of Robert Clarke & Co., 
Cincinnati. The work gave the story of one of the most 
thrilling expeditions of the Revolutionary War, the death of 
Col. Crawford at the stake being perhaps the most tragic of 
all the incidents of border warfare during the struggle for 
American Independence. The story is told in Mr. Butter- 
field's direct style and is so thrilling of itself that the narrative 
needs no elaboration to interest the reader. 

In 1875 he wrote, at Madison, Wis., where he had moved, 
in that year, a work jointly with Lyman C. Draper, a gentle- 
man who had gathered many manuscripts and information 
of pioneer history, which he afterward presented to the Li- 
brary of the Wisconsin Historical Society, on "Border Forays, 
Conflicts and Incidents ;" but this book was never printed on 
account of some disagreement between the two authors; and 
the evidence as to this does not lay the least blame upon Mr. 
Butterfield. In the spring of 1877 was published "The Wash- 
ington-Crawford Letters" edited by Mr. Butterfield, and issued 
from the press of Robert Clarke & Co., which is invaluable 
to the historical writer, for it contains information not to be 
foiind elsewhere, and like all of Butterfield's works must be 
read to find authority for many historical statements of fact. 
In it is given an idea of Washington's interest in the West 
and the immense tracts of land he secured for his military 
services as a Virginia officer during the French and Indian 
wars. 

In the fall of 1875 Mr. Butterfield completed for an "His- 
torical Atlas of Wisconsin," (which was published the next 
year) a "History of Wisconsin," assisting also in the prepara- 
tion of the county histories and biographical sketches found 
in that atlas. 

The "History of the University of Wisconsin" was writ- 
ten by him and published in 1879. His next work was one 
of the most important of all his books, being "Discovery of 



xiv Preface. 

the Northwest in 1634 by John Nicolet," which also contained 
a sketch of Nicolet's life. This is a remarkable book, but Mr. 
Butterfield, after his work on Brule was published, insisted 
that the latter should be read first by the student of the French 
discoveries in America. The production of Nicolet gave evi- 
dence of Butterfield's complete knowledge of French, of his 
painstaking and wide research as well as his marked literary 
ability. It is a record of the indomitable perseverance and 
heroic bravery of John Nicolet in an exploration which re- 
sulted in his being the first of civilized men to set foot upon 
any portion of the Northwest, which is to say, any part of the 
territory now constituting the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Michigan and Wisconsin. It is also shown how he 
brought to the knowledge of the world the existence of a 
fresh-water sea — Lake Michigan. It was always Mr. But- 
terfield's intention to rewrite this very remarkable work and 
make it more popular by eliminating the many French pas- 
sages which were introduced for the purpose of adding to its 
interest by employing the language of the early French writers 
and explorers, but this he never found time to accomplish. 

In 1882 he edited and published the "Washington-Irvine 
Correspondence," the work to which all historians must go for 
authority on the West in the Revolution. This work was pub- 
lished through the generosity of George Plumer Smith of 
Philadelphia who not only subscribed for numerous copies 
before it was printed, but furnished the maps in the book. 
This work, as its title indicates, consists of the official letters 
which passed between Washington and Brig.-Gen. Wm. Ir- 
vine and between Irvine and others concerning military 
affairs in the West from 1781 to 1783; these letters being ar- 
ranged and annotated with an introduction cojitaining an out- 
line of events occurring previously in the Trans-Allegheny 
country. No other work has ever been published containing 
so much information of value to the student of Western his- 
tory, and today no American library is considered complete 
without it. In speaking of Mr. Smith's part in the publica- 
tion of this book, Mr. Butterfield wrote the writer of this in 
June, 1898, the writer having conveyed to him information 
of Mr. Smith's death :^ 'T was pained to hear that George 
Plumer Smith was no more. I saw him last in Omaha some 
three or four years ago. He and I corresponded for a long 



Preface. x^ 

time. But for him, the 'Washington-Irvine Correspondence,' 
would, probably, not have been published. He subscribed for 
fifty copies and afterward purchased as many more, always 
insisting on paying for each copy," catalogue price. He also 
paid for the maps which you will notice in the book. I return 
you the letters written by him. How familiar is his hand- 
writing to our whole household!" The "Washington-Irvine 
Correspondence" was revised by Mr. Butterfield and after his 
death the MS. was sent to the Chicago Historical Society 
Library in accordance with his desire. 

In 1883 he edited a "Short Biography of John Leeth," fol- 
lowed by the "Journal of Capt. Jonathan Heart," pubHshed 
in 1885; this work being an account of the march to the West 
of the first troops under the government of the New Republic. 

Meanwhile he wrote with Frank A. Fowler a series of 
biographical sketches entitled "The Giants of the West;" but 
the book was never given to the public. 

While residing in Wisconsin he wrote, in chief, histories 
of the Counties of Rock, Fond-du-Lac, Columbia, Dane, Ver- 
non, Crawford and Greene of that state. For the last three 
mentioned he furnished a "General History of Wisconsin," 
which was published as an introduction to those works; his 
previous "History of Wisconsin," pubhshed in the "Historical 
Atlas" already mentioned, appearing as introductory to all 
the other Wisconsin County Histories. 

He was on the editorial staff of the "Northwest Review" 
for March and April, 1883, assistant editor of "Descriptive 
America" from December, 1884, to February, 1885, inclusive; 
and on the first day of January, 1886, he began editorial work 
on the "Magazine of Western History," afterward writing a 
large number of special articles for that magazine, principally 
historical and biographical. He severed his connection with 
that periodical in 1889. 

Having removed to South Omaha, Nebraska, in 1888, he 
there finished the "History of the Girtys," for which he had 
gathered much material while a resident of Wisconsin. This 
work was published by Robert Clarke & Co. in 1891, and is, 
perhaps, the most important of Mr. Butterfield's later works. 
It contains a vast amount of information as to the border 
warfare of the Trans-Allegheny country with the three Girtys 
— Simon, James and George — as the central figures. The 



xvi Preface. 

work, as Mr. Butterfield has written to the writer of this and 
as well has printed in the preface of the book, was undertaken 
because of the notoriety they had obtained, and likewise be- 
cause there was an apparent necessity for our Western an- 
nals to be freed, as near as possible, from error, everywhere 
permeating as to the part actually taken by these brothers — 
particularly Simon — in many of the important events which 
make up the history of the region immediately west of the 
Alleghenies. It had become the rule to give Simon Girty 
all the odium that came of diabolism practiced by American 
renegades employed by the British, for this purpose, and while 
Mr. Butterfield does not relieve Simon of his proper place, 
he shows that he was not always responsible — not even 
always present, when atrocious acts credited to him by most 
of the writers of romance called history, were committed. 
In this work, as in all of his productions, Mr. Butterfield 
kept constantly in mind one object paramount to all otheis — 
the statement of facts, as he understood them, and the truth 
was reached after research that encompassed everything bear- 
ing on the subject. The reader must be impressed with the 
large numbers of documents and authorities quoted in the His- 
tory of the Girtys; in fact nothing seems to be omitted that 
would aid in clearing up many of the mysteries of the border 
conflicts duri'ng and after the Revolutionary War which 
opened in the West in 1774 and continued until Wayne's Vic- 
tory at Fallen Timbers twenty years after. He takes up mat- 
ters published as fact by other writers and in a few words 
shows them to be only romance without foundation in history. 
He particularly takes Theodore Roosevelt to task for print- 
ing in his "Winning of the West" stories absolutely absurd, 
as history, when he might have printed truth. In this work 
some attention is given to the whole Girty family, the father, 
mother, and Simon's brothers, including Thomas, and a half- 
brother, John Turner, in whom interest is awakened because 
of the bearing their lives had upon the most notorious of their 
relatives. In all, the student of Trans-Allegheny history is 
lacking in information if he has not used the History of the 
Girtys as a text book. In it will be found all of interest in 
the Western country previous to, during and after the Revo- 
lutionary War. After reading this work one must be im- 
pressed with the fact that history is filled with statements 



Preface. xvii 

made without truth as basis. This work was revised before 
Mr. Butterfield's death, and the MS. complete throughout, 
when examined by his daughter was found to contain on the 
title page a note giving the manuscript to the Western Re- 
serve Historical Society, to be held by it until the copyright 
of the first edition shall have expired, and then to be the ab- 
solute property of the Society. This MS. is now in the West- 
ern Reserve Library at Cleveland. 

Brule has already been mentioned in this sketch. This 
was the last work of Mr. Butterfield, published. The manu- 
script was presented to the Western Reserve Historical Soci- 
ety in 1897 and published by this Society the following year. 
Brule is a narrative of the discovery by Stephen Brule of 
Lakes Huron, Ontario and Superior, and of his explorations, 
the first by civilized man, of Pennsylvania, Western New 
York, and of the Province of Ontario, Canada. It is a most 
thrilling story and it reads like a novel. In the preface the 
author truthfully says, "Few, if any, of the early events prop- 
erly belonging to the pages of American history are of more 
interest and importance after the discovery of the New World, 
than are those relating to the journeyings of Stephen Brule." 
The achievements of this daring Frenchman (Norman) in the 
northern part of this country and the southern part of Canada, 
have not heretofore been given in detail, and it was well that 
the story remained for Butterfield to tell, for he has left no 
leaf unturned and no musty document unexamined that gave 
information on the exploits of Champlain's first interpreter, 
who came to America a mere boy to live among the Indians 
with the view of learning their language. He came to Amer- 
ica at a very early period — he had discovered Lake Huron 
before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. All his work 
is followed closely and detailed in attractive historic style up 
to the hour Brule was killed and eaten by the Hurons. Brule 
is the most important work of recent years, and must attract 
the mind of the pupil who would know the early history of 
his country. There are copious notes and an extended ap- 
pendix, all of the greatest value. Butterfield himself, as did 
his intimate friends, considered Brule his best effort from a 
literary point of view, and the letters written to him in regard 
to this work and the reviews of it in the papers gave him 
great pleasure. He was so grateful for kindly mention of his 



xviii Preface. 

work that he frequently expressed his thanks, and this was 
the key to his whole life, ever considerate, ever generous. 

In 1892 and 1893 he wrote a "History of South Omaha" 
which was printed in the last-named year as an annex to a 
"History of Omaha." Nearly all the biographical sketches 
appearing in the Dmaha history were prepared by him. 

Mr. Butterfield left several important works in manu- 
script, among them ''History of Col. David Williamson's Ex- 
pedition to the Tuscarawas River in 1782," this being a cor- 
rect story of the massacre of the Moravian Indians, and is a 
most valuable contribution to the history of the West. It 
was left to the Western Reserve Historical Society Library 
which Society will no doubt have it published. But the most 
important of these works is the "History of Lieut. Col. George 
Rogers Clark's Conquest of the Illinois and the Wabash 
Towns from the British in 1778 and 1779." Mr. Butterfield 
had this book ready for publication in 1896, but as another 
work came out that year on the same subject, he concluded 
not to publish it, and he worked on it almost to the day of 
his death. In correspondence with the writer of this, Mr. 
Butterfield said that it was his intention to present it to the 
Chicago Historical Society; but when advised by the writer 
to give the manuscript to Washington and Lee University 
of Virginia on the ground that the supporters of the Uni- 
versity were, many of them, descended from Clark's soldiers, 
he hesitated; but after his death his daughter gave the man- 
uscript to the writer who was expected to have it published 
by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, and 
if this society does not give it to the public, the manuscript 
'will be sent to the Washington and Lee University. His note 
book used in gathering material for his Crawford's Sandusky 
Expedition was also presented to the writer. 

He also left the manuscript, but incomplete, of "The West 
in the Revolution," which has been presented to the Chicago 
Historical Society. This book ought to be published, for it 
will fill the one vacant place in American literature. 

He left several other manuscripts which he had designed 
publishing in pamphlet form, and these are still in possession 
of his family. 

In speaking of her father's death, his daughter writes: "I 
never saw an old person in death look so 'like one who lies 



Preface. xix 

down to pleasant dreams.' . . . The children in the neigh- 
borhood all came in to see and seemed startled. One little 
miss of six or seven, whom I did not know, came to the door 
all alone and asked, 'Please might I see Mr. Butterfield ?' 
She looked earnestly quite a while and then smiled and said, 
That looks just like Mr. Butterfield.'" 

Mr. Butterfield was twice married. His first wife was 
Elmira, daughter of John Scroggs of Bucyrus, Crawford 
County, Ohio, the marriage being May 8, 1854. She died May 
15, 1857. He was again married March 30, 1858, to Letta 
Merriman, widow of James H. Reicheneker. Of this union 
four children were born : Minnie Bell, who died September 
22, 1859, aged six months; a son and daughter both of whom 
died in infancy ; and Alice, who now resides with her widowed 
mother, and who was a strong right arm to her father during 
his later years. 

Of his father's family, a sister, Mme. Hyacinthe Loysen, 
of Paris, France ; and Mrs. Cylvia Barry are still living. An 
adopted daughter, Mrs. W. J. White, is the wife of Major 
White, Chief Quartermaster in the army at Havana, Cuba. 



CHAPTER I. 

TO resist the tyranical acts of the Mother coun- 
try was the firm determination of a large por- 
tion of the people living upon the waters of 
the Ohio when the all-absorbing questions so deeply 
agitating the Colonies generally, were, early in 1775, 
fairly understood. 

Swiftly traveled the news to Philadelphia and then 
to the westward in the latter days of April, that the 
controversy had, upon the soil of Massachusetts, 
ripened into actual war. It flew along Forbes's road 
— the main thoroughfare in Pennsylvania over the 
mountains west at that period — as if upon the wings, 
of the wind, and was heard in Hannastown, county 
seat of Westmoreland county, that State, in breath- 
less astonishment ; so, too, the next day at Pittsburgh. 
Then Pennsylvanians in Westmoreland county, and 
Virginians and Pennsylvanians in Augusta county 
(Virginia, as claimed by the former) took counsel to- 
gether. Meetings were called for the sixteenth of 
May. Invitations were sent into all the trans-Alle- 
ghany settlements; and, on that day, there gathered 
together borderers from far and near to give their 
views concerning British aggressions, and to concert 
measures such as the crisis s'eemed to demand. Neigh- 
boring discords caused by an unrun boundary Hue 
between the two Provinces, ceased. Patriotism very 
generally obliterated partisan hatred; for the liberties 
of the whole people were alike threatened. 

As early as the fall of the year 1774, a number of 
North Carolinians, afterward known as the Transyl- 
vania Company, began arrangements which ended in 



2 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

the following March in their purchasing from the 
Overhill Cherokee Indians, among other lands, the 
whole territory south of the Kentucky river, included 
within the present limits of the State of Kentucky. 

The Company, of whom Richard Henderson was 
the head, proceeded immediately to make extensive 
preparations for the settlement of their Kentucky 
domain, resulting in the commencement of Boones- 
borough, at the mouth of Otter creek, on the south 
side of the Kentucky river, about one hundred and 
fifty miles up that stream, on the first day of April 
1775. A fev/ days previous, Harrodsburg, now 
county-seat of Mercer county, Kentucky, had been 
started independent of the claim O'f Henderson and 
Company. 

But there was an Indian population (very thinly 
scattered it is true) northwest of the Ohio, which, if 
it became hostile, it was quickly seen, would be to the 
border settlements more terrible than a civilized army. 
An Indian war the year previO'Us ended in a treaty 
not yet fully ratified, and there were just apprehen- 
sions of renewed hostilities ; but prompt action on part 
of Virginia and the holding of a council in Pittsburgh, 
in October, 1775, with Mingoes, Shawanese, Wyan- 
dots, Ottawas and Munceys, averted the threatened 
storm. Meanwhile, Congress, in order to preserve 
peace and friendship with the savages generally, 
created three Indian Departments — the Northern, 
Middle and Southern. The West was included in the 
Middle Department. 

Settlements down the Ohio in the Kentucky coun- 
try — Harrbrdsburg (first known as "Harrodstown"), 
Boonesborough and other stations — were growing 
apace. Brave men and true were James Harrod, 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 3 

Daniel BoO'ne, and many more, thus to make this 
(then) distant and wilderness region their homes. 
And there was one among them transiently, and to 
most unknown, who, of all others, for some years 
thereafter, in that country, occupied the largest part 
of public attention. To him is now to be given that 
consideration which the annals of the West seem to 
demand. 

George Rogers Clark was born the nineteenth 
of November, 1752, near Monticello, Albermarle 
county, Virginia, where he was a neighbor and favor- 
ite of Thomas Jefferson. He enjoyed some educa- 
tional advantages from a noted Scotch teacher, Donald 
Robertson, in King and Queen county, among whose 
pupils was James Madison. He fitted himself for a 
surveyor, and, at the age of twenty, practiced for a 
short time his profession on the upper Ohio, though 
really more fond of roving than surveying, he having, 
in 1772, in the summer, gone on a journey ''towards 
Kentucky." He was spoken of by the one with whom 
he traveled on that occasion, as "a young gentleman 
from Virginia, who inclined to make a tour in this 
new world." 

In April, 1774, a party of eighty or ninety Virgin- 
ians made a rendezvous at the mouth of the Little 
Kanawha, with the intention of descending the Ohio 
and beginning a settlement in Kentucky. Clark was 
one of the party. Reports of Indian hostilities broke 
up the meeting. Finally, actual war was brought on 
the events leading to which were afterward set forth 
by Clark (as he understood them) in a letter to one 
of the professors of Transylvania University.* 

*This letter was published in The Hesperian (Columbus, 
O.: 1839), vol. II, p. 309; also in Jacob's Life of Cresap 



-\/ 



4 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC: 

Clark took part in this conflict of arms, and was 
commissioned a captain. His company belonged to 
the right wing of the army commanded by Lord Dun- 
more, Governor of Virginia, in person. He was en- 
gaged in little if any actual fighting, and at the close 
of the war was offered by Dunmore a commission in 
the English service ; but the political troubles, already 
become very serious, induced him to decline the offer. 
"Lord Dunmore's War," as this contest is termed, was 
carried on between Virginia on the one side, and the 
Shawanese and Mingoes, principally, on the other. 
It terminated in favor of Virginia after a hard-won 
victory at Point Pleasant, where the Great Kanawha 
empties into the Ohio. 

In the spring after the Virginia governor had dicta- 
ted the terms of peace to the Shawanese and Mingoes 
beyond the Ohio, Clark again turned his thoughts to 
the region down that river and to the south of it, as 
one inviting — if not to the adventurer, at least to the 
surveyor; so it was that he journied to the Kentucky 
woods to practice for interested parties the art he had 
chosen as his calling for life. He remained in the 
wilderness until fall when for the first time he visited 
the incipient Kentucky settlements. 

Many are the errors perpetuated not only in tradi- 
tion but in history concerning Clark while in the Ken- 
tucky country in 1775. Prominent among these is 
the statement that he was placed in command of the 
militia there; but the answer to this is, there was no 
organization of militia in that country until 1777. If 

(Cincinnati Re-print: 1886), pp. 154-158; and in Mayer's 
Logan and Cresap, p. 149. It is printed nearly entire in 
DeHass's History of the Indian Wars of Western Virginia, 
pp. 147-149. 



■HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 5 

any men were previously embodied in a military way, 
it was only for the time being and because of the pres- 
ence (actual or reported) of hostile savages. Then 
a few settlers would volunteer for offensive or defens- 
ive operations. But, in none of these undertakings 
did he take part so far as known.* Again : it is often 
repeated that he became at once the most prominent 
man in the settlements. Documentary evidence con- 
clusively shows the fallacy of this. As he left Ken- 
tucky in the fall of 1775 and returned to his home, it 
is altogether certain that little if any mention would 
have been made of his visit in after years but for the 
events which subsequently took place in the West in 
which he was a prominent actor. 

It was at this period and in the dense forests south 
of the Ohio, that Clark first began to have some prac- 
tical aspirations — some thoughts of paying attention 
to. the interests of the country in which were the few 
infant settlements he was visiting. He soon learned 
that Henderson and Company were taking great pains 
to ingratiate themselves in the favor of the people ; 
but, too soon for their own interests, they began to 
raise on their lands, which caused many to complain. 
A few gentlemen made some attempts to persuade 
the people to pay no attention to them. Clark was 
not slow in perceiving that they would work their 
own ruin ; as the greatest security they had for success 
would be that of making it the interest of the people 
to support their claim. f 

* Appendix, Note 1. 

■\ Memoir of General George Rogers Clark, Composed 
by Himself at the United Desire of Presidents Jefferson and 
Madison — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859) , p. 115. That 
Henderson and Company had raised on the price of their 



6 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

A deep impression was doubtless made on Clark's 
mind by the course which had been pursued during 
the Spring by the Proprietors in attempting' to form a 
colonial government independent of Virginia — the 
new colony to be known as Transylvania. Delegates 
to a Convention were chosen — "for the town of 
Boonesborough, six members ; for Harrodsburg, four ; 
for the Boiling Spring settlement, four ; for the town 
of St. Asaph, four" — to meet on the twenty-third of 
May. The "House," after passing several laws, ad- 
jo'urned to the first Tuesday of September. This 
effort to establish a Proprietary government was de- 
cidedly in opposition to the wishes of a portion of the 
settlers; and so rapidly did the disaffection increase 
that no further attempt was made toward organiza- 
tion. That Clark was one of the opposers when he 
came to know what had been done, is certain. 

Conceraiing Clark's return home from this his 
first visit to the Kentucky country, no' particulars have 
been preserved. Reasons for his leaving have some- 
times been given by writers, but these are wholly 
conjectural. And, if true, that it was because of his 
intention to join the patrio't army,f would be nothing 
to his discredit. 

And now that the youthful Virginia surveyor and 
wanderer has returned to his father's fireside to re- 
count the wonders of Western wilds to (it may be 
presumed) his interested parents, it is there we will 

lands as stated by Clark, is confirmed by a letter of John 
Williams to the Proprietors from Boonesborough, January 
3, 1776. (Hall's Romance of Western History, p. 387.) 
Concerning Clark's Memoir just cited, see^ Appendix to our 
narrative, Note II. 

^Harper's Magasine, vol. XXII, pp. 785, 786. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 7 

leave him for a season, to record events taking place 
far from his home ; which occurrences, in the end, as 
our narrative discloses, have a bearing upon those 
hereafter to- particularly engage our attention. 

The ending of Lord Dunmore's War had left a 
zealous friend of the Royal Governor in command at 
Fort Pitt — or as he would have it called, "Fort Dun- 
more" — formerl}^ a British fortress at the junction of 
the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, but, in 1775 
mostly in ruins. Its site then joined the village of 
. Pittsburgh, but is now included within the city's limits. 
The favorite spoken of, of the Virginia Executive, was 
John Connolly. He proved to be an arch tory and 
laid extensive plans to assail the Trans-Alleghany 
region in order to restore British authority by force. 
He was commissioned "a Lieutenant Colonel of the 
Queen's Royal Rangers" and given full power to raise 
a battalion and as many independent companies as he 
could, to assist him in his projects. He had left Fort 
Pitt to confer with Dunmore previous to this, and now 
started for Detroit where he was to be greatly aided. 
Captain Hugh Lord, in command of the Illinois coun- 
try, which lay on the east bank of the Mississippi and 
included Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, St. Philips 
. and Cahokia — towns occupied mostly by French Ca- 
nadians — was to join him from the village first men- 
tioned ; however, the would-be Lieutenant-Colonel was 
captured in Maryland, and his career of military glory 
abruptly terminated. 

Soon after his confinement, he began to make him- 
self busy in conjecturing what would be the probable 
operations authorized by the American Congress, so 
far as the war was concerned. He imagined a body 
of men would be -sent down the Ohio to capture the 



8 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

small garrison at Kaskaskia (principal town of the 
Illinois), as he had information, which, however, was 
erroneous, that there was a great want there of stores 
and ordnance. He therefore wished very much to in- 
form Captain Lord, commanding the post, of (this 
was his firm belief) the imminent danger which threat- 
ened him, and to advise him to quit the country. He 
afterward contrived to write two letters to the Captain 
and, putting them into the hands of John Smyth, one 
of his captured companions, found means to start the 
latter for the Illinois ; but Smyth was retaken and the 
communications fell into the hands of the Americans,* 
who were not slow in publishing them, thereby calling 
public attention to that remote region. 

"You must, agreeable to General Gage's order and 
Lord Dunmore's," were Connolly's words to the Illi- 
nois commandant, "proceed down the Mississippi and 
join Lord Dunmore at Norfolk, and the Fourteenth 
[regiment] which is now there. Lose no time, for 
fear the rebels should be upon you from Pittsburgh." 
And in the other letter he wrote : "Though your remote 
situation may have prevented you from hearing many 
particulars relative to the state of the Colonies, you 
yet must know enough to discover your own danger- 
ous situation. You were to have joined me at Detroit, 
by the Wabash communication, and it was expected, 
by your advice and assistance, that we would have 
been able to penetrate through the colony of Virginia, 
and thus have divided the Southern from the North- 
ern Governments, "f 

* See Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 
vol. XII, pp. 416, 417; also Smyth's Tour in the United 
States of America, vol. II, p. 269. 

t Connolly must have had discretionary orders as to Cap- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"I was made a prisoner," he says, in a letter which 
he also sent by Smyth to Captain Richard Berringer 
Loernoult, in command at Detroit, "on my way through 
the Government to your post, where I expected to 
have afforded you some assistance, and to have ordered 
Captain Lord, of the Eighteenth [regiment], to join 
us there also. I am now to inform you that I much 
fear his Majesty's enemies may attack you early in the 
Spring, and as Montreal is in their hands, I dread the 
consequences." "You were ordered," continues Con- 
nolly, "to raise all the French you could, which I hope 
you have done." "Take care," concludes the writer, 
"that there is not an improper correspondence carried 
on between your post and Pittsburgh." 

Notwithstanding Captain Lord received no intima- 
tions of Connolly's designs, or commands, it was soon 
evident from advices at hand from Carleton, in whose 
jurisdiction the Illinois then was (it being, as claimed 
by Great Britain, a part of the Province of Quebec), 
that the disasters to the royal arms upon the St. Law- 
rence caused by the invasion of Colonial soldiers would 
make it necessary to have the Fort in Kaskaskia — 
Fort Gage, the British military post "upon the Missis- 
sippi" — evacuated by the regular soldiers stationed 
there; but, for the time, the Captain continued his 
force in that country.* 

tain Lord's retirement. In the first place it was his idea 
to have that officer meet him with his command at Detroit; 
but now that he (Connolly) was a prisoner, he would have 
the Captain go down the Mississippi and take vessel to 
Norfolk. 

* See as' to Fort Gaze, Appendix to our narrative, Note 
XLVIII. 



10 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The War of the Revolution had but fairly com- 
menced when the British Government turned its atten- 
tion to the savage nations to the northward, westward 
and southward, of the Colonies. In previous contests 
between England and France in America the employ- 
ment of Indians on either side as auxiliaries had been 
customary; and the idea of the British General, 
Thomas Gage, Commander-in-chief in America, who, 
writing to Sir Guy Carleton, just as the latter was to 
arrive at Quebec as Governor of Canada, asking to 
know what measures would be most efficacious to raise 
a body of Canadians and Indians to form a junction 
with the king's forces, was in accordance with these 
precedents ; but it is clear that a remorseless savage 
war was not what he intended to suggest. 

On the ninth of June, 1775, Sir Guy proclaimed 
the American borderers to be rebellious traitors. He 
established martial law. He summoned the French 
peasantry to serve under the old colonial nobility. 
He would have the converted Indian tribes and the 
savages of the Northwest take up the hatchet against 
New York and New England. Still it is doubtful if 
the Canadian governor contemplated in this anything 
beyond the service of the savages with British troops 
in legitimate warfare. La Corne Saint-Luc acted for 
the government generally, while Jacques Duperon 
Baby sent belts and strings of wampum to the various 
tribes, to join the British army. In this, he was as- 
sisted by Captain Lernoult, commanding the Detroit 
garrison. The savages were visited by British emis- 
saries or harrangued at British posts to the southward 
and southwestward of Lake Erie and to the westward 
and northward of Lake Huron, even to the waters of 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 11 

Lakes Michigan and Superior. Thus the Indians of 
the West began to hear of the trouble between Great 
Britain and her American colonies ; and they had it 
made known to them that there was actual war exist- 
ing in New England. But they were not urged to go 
in war parties against the border settlements. 

The office of Lieutenant Governor and Superin- 
tendent of Indian Affairs had already been created for 
some of the most distant posts in Canada. It was a 
new office — unknown before in the West. It was 
believed by the British ministry that the Indians could 
by such offices, be made more powerful allies than by 
^ those having immediate command of garrisons. 
Henry Hamilton in April, of the year last mentioned, 
was appointed for Detroit and its dependencies at a 
salary of two hundred pounds sterling. The appoint- 
ment was made by the Earl of Dartmouth as Colonial 
Secretary (Secretary of State for the Colonies), who 
was succeeded in that office by Lord George Germain 
(George Sackville) the next November. The Lieu- 
tenant Governor was to act under instructions from 
Governor Carleton, the Commander-in-chief of the 
Province of Quebec. The paramount idea was, that 
the savages were to be worked upon by him in such 
manner that they would be in readiness always to join 
the armies of Great Britain ; his duties, however, being 
soon extended to aiding the Indians in making war, 
as will soon be seen, on the frontier settlements. 

"At the time General Carleton thought proper to 
send me up [to Detroit]," wrote Hamilton subse- 
quently, ''the rebels had entered Canada, and I crossed 
the island of Montreal in a Canadiaij dress, and got 
the fourth day, in a wooden canoe, to Oswegatchie 



12 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

[now Ogdensburg] unprovided with (I may say) 
everything."* 

Hamilton arrived out on the ninth of November, 
1775. t He was immediately importuned by the In- 
dians in the vicinity of his post for his "assent to their 
making inroads upon the frontiers of Pennsylvania"; 
but this, he declares, he declined, giving as a reason 
his ''not having received orders on the subject. "J The 
desire of the savages, however, conclusively shows that 
their war-spirit had already been aroused against the 
settlers of the Trans-Alleghany country. 

Hamilton was under the necessity of acting dis- 
cretionary for a time after his arrival, because inter- 
course with the lower part of the Province of Quebec 
had been cut ofif ''by the rebels possessing themselves 
of Montreal," and he could not therefore confer with 
Governor Carleton. He did not feel authorized to 
advise the Indians (much less. to assist them) to take 
up the hatchet then against the "rebels." Still, his 
talk was calculated (notwithstanding his counsel to 
them was to sit still for the present) to promote their 
thirst for war ; and there were some braves, whose 
desire for plunder was so great that they marched to 
Sandusky on their way to strike the settlements to the 
eastward, but were turned back by the importunities 
of John Dodge at that place.° 

The Lieutenant Governor had had considerable ex- 
perience in military matters. He had been a lieuten- 

t Hamilton to the Earl of Dartmouth, Aug. 29 — Sept. 2, 
1776. — Haldimand MSS. 

* Hamilton to the Earl of Dartmouth, Aug. 29— Sept. 2, 
1776. — Haldimand MSS. (See Appendix, Note HI.) 

X Hamilton to. Haldimand, July 6, 1781, Germain MSS. 

° Dodge's Narrative Alman's Remembrances (1779), 
vol. VIIL (See Appendix to our narrative, Note IV.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 13 

ant in the Fifteenth Regiment of Foot, but had left 
the army upon the conclusion of peace between France 
and England, in 1763. Immediately on his arrival at 
Detroit, he appointed as his secretary, Philip Dejean, 
who was, besides, justice of the peace, judge, notary, 
auctioneer, and receiver of public money. 

As, under the Quebec Act of 1774 — the one organ- 
izing the Province of Quebec, Canada — "all commis- 
sions, to judges and other offices were revoked, an- 
nulled and made void, from and after the first day of 
May, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five,"''' 
the acting as judge by Dejean after that date, even had 
he previously sufficient warrant for officiating in that 
capacity, was, notwithstanding the orders and approval 
of Hamilton, clearly illegal. Nevertheless, he contin- 
ued to act, — he having in December, after all com- 
missions had been by the law abrogated, caused a man 
to be apprehended for murder, sentenced him to death, 
and carried the sentence into execution, — the Lieu- 
tenant Governor aiding, by ordering out a guard of 
soldiers upon the occasion. 

Far to the northward where the waters of Lake 
Michigan meet and mingle with those of the Huron 
lake, situated on the south side of the straits, was the 
post of Michilimackinac, in command of which, in the 
Spring of 1775^ was Captain Arent Schuyler De Pey- 
ster, having a garrison composed of two companies of 
the Eighth regiment. His duties were not onerous. 
His time was divided between looking after the fur 
traders, holding long "talks" with the savages, and 

"^ British Statutes at Large (London, 1776), vol. XII, 
pp. 184-187, where the Quebec Act is printed in full. It 
may be foundalso in the Collections of the State Historical 
Society of Wisconsin, vol. XI, pp. 53-60. 



14 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

in ''courting the muses" — he wrote some creditable 
poetry.* He had been advised of the appointment of 
Patrick Sinclair as Lieutenant Governor and Superin- 
tendent of Indian Affairs of his post and its depend- 
encies. 

But Sinclair, who was commissioned on the seventh 
of April, upon arriving at New York, was taken pris- 
oner and on the third of August following was sum- 
moned before Congress on the charge of being com- 
missioned to employ the Indians in the Northwest in 
coercing the Colonies. He was sent to Long Island 
as a paroled prisoner and the next year allowed to 
return to England. As no other person was appointed 
in Sinclair's place, it was a necessity for De Peyster 
to act as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, the duties 
of which office he had already attended to. 

Pie was slow to enter upon the policy of arousing 
the Indians and inflaming them on the British side as 
against the Americans, being content at first to urge 
them only to a close friendship with his Government. 
His post and its dependencies were far removed from 
the strife on the seaboard. The Pottowattomies were 
scattered from near St. Joseph (formerly a French 
post of some note a considerable distance up the river 
of the same name emptying into Lake Michigan) to 
the mouth of the stream on which it was located, thence 
around Lake Michigan to the site of the present city 
of Chicago and to that of Milwaukee ; and there had 
as yet appeared no one from Michilimackinac or De- 
troit with belts and wampum to excite them against 
the "rebellious Colonies ;" so also the Winnebagoes 
around Winnebago lake, and the Menomonees upon 

* See his Miscellanies , passim. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 15 

Green bay, had not been advised to hold themselves 
in readiness to go to war against the Americans. But 
the Chippewas were already aroused by the representa- 
tives of La Corne Saint-Luc ; and the "talks" of their 
chiefs, with De Peyster during the first half of 1776, 
served to increase among them and contiguous nations 
the thirst for war ; for it had been determined to raise 
warriors in that region to march to the St. Lawrence : 
and soon a band was on the march thither. But these 
savage allies were to aid the regular British forces; 
they were not to march against unprotected settlers. 

On the same day of the appointment of Sinclair 
as Lieutenant Governor and Superintendent of Mich- 
ilimackinac and its dependencies, Captain Mathew 
Johnson was named for a like office at the Illinois; 
but he was "never able to attend to his duty" there; 
indeed he did not reach his post at all, — for reasons, 
however, satisfactory to the British government, as he 
continued to draw his salary (two hundred pounds 
sterling) during the war.* 

At the beginning of the Revolution, there were 
British armed vessels - — an incipient navy — upon 
Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, which materially 
aided the military forces, gave efficiency to the labors 
of Indian agents, and everywhere on those waters pro- 
tected the fur-trade. On the lake first mentioned 
were four armed schooners, built at Detroit, and four 
sloops. There was also one sloop on Lake Huron and 
one on Lake Michigan. 

* Haldimand to Grey Cooper (Secretary of the Treasury) , 
July 8 and the letter of the latter of. May 8, 1781. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. The Receiver General's accounts, in May, 
1782, also show a charge of £100, as "Lieutenant Governor of 
the Illinois" — being for 6 months salary. 



16 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



The schooners on Lake Erie were the Gage, built 
in 1772, mounting sixteen carriage-guns and six swiv- 
els, requiring for her crew forty-eight men including 
officers; — the Dunmore, built the same year, carry- 
ing twelve guns and four swivels, requiring for her 
complement of men, thirty-six, including officers; the 
Hope, built in 1771, and taken into the King's employ 
on the twenty-fifth day of August, 1775, mounting 
four four-pounders, and two two-pounders, requiring 
a crew of eighteen men, including officers; and the 
Faith, built in 1774, carrying four swivels, and re- 
quiring for her complement, ten men, including officers. 
The sloops on that lake were the Chippewa, four swiv- 
els ; the Angelica, six ; the Felicity, number unknown ; 
the Adventure, four. The sloop on Lake Huron was 
the Welcome ; on Lake Michigan, the Archangel. 

Early in the year 1776, Congress, in hopes of keep- 
ing quiet the various Indian nations of the West, 
appointed George Morgan to be Indian Agent for the 
Middle Department, Richard Butler having previously 
acted in that capacity. 

At Detroit, the opening of Spring was followed by 

/considerable activity. Hamilton busied himself in 

sending to surrounding tribes invitations to a treaty, 

accorded by De Peyster at Michilimack, who urged 

those near him to attend. 

It was late in August before the savages assembled 
at Detroit at the Lieutenant Governor's call, deputies 
being present from the Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyan- 
dots, Shawanese, Senecas, Delawares, Cherokees and 
Pottawattomies. Five days were consumed and many 
speeches made. The conclusion of the Indians was 
(they being of course guided in this by Hamilton) 
that the "rebels" had imposed upon them by falsely 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 17 

stating the cause of the dispute between them and the 
British ; that they had misrepresented their own abiUty 
to cope with the mother country; and that they v. ere 
not really well-disposed towards the several nations 
of savages, members of which were then deliberating. 
The Lieutenant Governor told the Indians to content 
themselves with watchfully observing the enemy's 
motions; that if the "Virginians" attacked them he 
would give notice to all the tribes ; and that an attack 
on one was to be followed by all uniting against them. 

Morgan, at Pittsburgh, was early informed of 
Hamilton's determination to assemble the Western 
Indians in council at Detroit and he resolved to thwart 
the Lieutenant Governor so far as lay in his power, 
by visiting a number of the nations within reach. He 
went as far beyond the Ohio as the Scioto and saw 
chiefs of the Delawares and Shawanese. Early in 
July, he left the lower Shawanese town on his way 
back to Pittsburgh. Deputies from some of the most 
friendly nations met commissioners at Fort Pitt, late 
in October ; and the "talks" to some extent neutralized 
the efforts Hamilton had made with these Indians. 

While at the lower Shawanese village, Morgan had 
other plans revolving in his mind beside those relat- 
ing to the Detroit council. He had friends in the 
Illinois and he knew the previous condition of affairs 
in that country ; besides, he had received a full account 
of Connolly's letters to Captain Lord. He wrote to 
two of his acquaintances at Kaskaskia, asking them as 
to the "exact situation of affairs" in that country; 
"and what quantity of flour and beef" they "could 
furnish a company or two of men with," on the twenty- 
fifth of the next December. The letter he entrusted 

2 



18 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

to an Indian who was known as "Silver Heels." Mor- 
gan added that he would depend on his two friends 
for the desired information by the return of Silver 
Heels, ''who ought to be at Pittsburgh as early in 
September as possible, as there is a great treaty to be 
held in that month with all the Western nations. If 
one of you could come along with him, it may be 
much to your advantage but you should be very secret 
with respect to your business."*^ 

It is doubtful if any man in the Trans-Alleghany 
region was better qualified to lead "a company or two 
of men" to the Illinois country than Morgan. His 
long and intimate acquaintance there, and his knowl- 
edge of the best method to adopt to have approached 
undiscovered the different settlements, peculiarly fitted 
him for successfully carrying forward an expedition 
against the Illinois towns. And that he should have 
planned such an undertaking clearly shows that he 
had a full understanding of the defenceless condition 
of those villages and the feasibility of their capture 
with a comparatively small force. However, his letter 
fell into unfriendly hands ; for at least one of the 
parties addressed, was in sympathy with the Mother 
country; hence, no answer was received giving the 
desired information as to supplies obtainable at Kas- 
kaskia; and the undertaking was abandoned. 

Captain Lord and his garrison, under orders from 
Carleton, departed from Fort Gage on the first day of 

* Morgan to Richard Winston and Patrick Kenedy, 
July 6, 1776. — Haldimand MSS. (Appendix, Note V.) 
An interesting biographical sketch of Morgan may be found 
in The Canonsburg (Pa.) Notes, of Dec. 19, 1891, by Julia 
M. Harding. See also Hildreth's Pioneer History; Wash- 
ington-Irvine Correspondence, History of the Girty's and 
Mason's Early Chicago and Illinois. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 19 

May, 1776, to join the British forces by way of Detroit 
and the Lakes ; but the fortification he did not dis- 
mantle — the ordnance and munitions of war he left 
behind. He had previously been instructed to intrust 
the administration of affairs in the Illinois to such 
person as he judged proper. He selected Philip 
Rocheblave, as his successor, leaving his family in care 
of the latter — a sufficient proof of his confidence in 
the man."^ 

It was the opinion of Rocheblave that the reason 
for the recall of Captain Lord from the Illinois was 
because the condition of affairs upon the St. Lawrence 
made it better to have him and his garrison nearer the 
center of hostilities, serving as an "aid in gathering 
together all his forces, which, as a skillful leader, he 
considered to be too far distant. "f 

"The unfortunate situation," afterwards wrote 
Rocheblave, "in which his Excellency, Mr. Carleton, 
found himself at the end of the 3^ear 1775, at the time 
of the invasion of the Province of Quebec by the 
Colonists, obliged him to recall the garrison of this 
country [the Illinois] in order to fall back on Detroit 
and Niagara. The General judged wisely that, under 
the circumstances, it were better not to have the few 
troops belonging to him widely dispersed, when, in 
consolidating them, lay his only chance of accomplish- 
ing anything. In consequence of his orders, Captain 
Hugh Lord, who had governed this country with gen- 
eral satisfaction, evacuated it, leaving me in charge 

* See Mason's Early Chicago and Illinois, pp. 360-381, 
for an interesting biographical sketch of Rocheblave. 

t Rocheblave to Germain, Jan. 22, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS.- 



20 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

without troops, without money, without resources. "f 
The explanation, however, for Captain Lord's depart- 
ure as stated by Carleton was, "to avoid unnecessary 
expense"4 It is probable, notwithstanding, that the 
reasons given by Rocheblave were such as the Gover- 
nor had mentioned to the Captain, in his orders to the 
latter to leave the Illinois. 

t Same to same, Feb. 28, 1778, in same. 

J Carleton to Hamilton, September 15, 1777, in same. 



CHAPTER II. 

IT was in the Spring of 1776, that Clark, on foot and 
alone, again went to Kentucky — a particular 
scheme, in addition to his desire to continue his 
surveying, having this time drawn him thither. 

Tradition has this account of his arrival : He was 
first met by a young lad who had gone a few miles 
from Harrodsburg to turn some horses out on the 
range. The boy had killed a duck and was roasting 
it by a fire he had kindled, when he was surprised by 
the near approach of a fine soldierly-looking man who 
said : "How do you do my little fellow ? What is your 
name? Are you not afraid of being in the woods by 
yourself?" The stranger was evidently hungry; for, 
on being invited to eat, he speedily finished the entire 
duck ; and when the boy asked him his name his reply 
was that it was Clark and that he had come out to see 
what "you brave fellows in Kentucky are doing, and 
to help you if there is need." * 

But this story has evidently gathered unto itself 
what at first was foreign to it. The "fine soldierly- 
looking man" raises a suspicion of having been sup- 
plied by the relator, to whom, in after years, Clark 
became a hero; and, that he came out "to see what 
the brave fellows in Kentucky were doing and to help 

* Butler's Kentucky, p. 37n., where it is printed for the 
first time, and as taken from the lips of the boy that was-- 
but then an old man. The story as related by Butler has, 
with more or less variation, been frequently repeated. (See 
Harper's Magazine, vol. XXII, p. 786; Collins's Kentucky 
(ed. of 1877), p. 610; Roosevelt's The Winning of the West, 
vol. I, p. 319.) 



22 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



them if there was need," would hardly have been 
spoken to one so young; besides, these words induce 
the belief of their having been added as the result of 
knowing the visitor's subsequent career. 

Clark was now greeted (if traditionary accounts 
are to be taken as veritable), with considerable dis- 
tinction. His appearance "was well calculated to 
attract attention ; it was rendered particularly agree- 
able by the manliness of his deportment, the intelli- 
gence of his conversation ; but above all, by the 
vivacity and boldness of his spirit for enterprise, and 
the determination he expressed of becoming an inhab- 
itant of the country. He fixed on no particular resi- 
dence ; was much in the woods ; incidentally visiting 
the forts and the ostensible camps ; he cultivated the 
acquaintance of the people, and acquired an extensive 
knowledge of the various objects presented to his 
curiosity or to his inspection."* 

A considerable number of the Kentucky settlers, 
some of them of particular prominence, had already 
petitioned the Convention of Virginia to take them 
under their protection. "As we are anxious," they 
said, "to concur in every respect with our brethren of 
the United Colonies for our just rights and privileges 
as far as our infant settlements and remote situation 
will admit of, we humbly expect and implore to be 
taken under the protection of the Honorable Con- 
vention of the Colony of Virginia, of which we cannot 
help thinking ourselves still a part, and request your 
kind interposition in our behalf, that we may not suf- 
fer under the rigorous demands and impositions of 
the gentlemen styling themselves proprietors." At the 

* Marshall's Kentucky, vol. I, p. 46. It is evident that 
some of this is overdrawn, 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 23 

same time, these petitioners called in question the title 
of Henderson and Company to the lands, which had 
been purchased by them of the Cherokees."^ 

The petition was received by the Virginia Con- 
vention ; and a counter petition was presented by Hen- 
derson and his partners. That the Assembly recog- 
nized the Kentucky settlements as being within the 
limits of Virginia is evident from its action. Com- 
missioners were appointed to take evidence on behalf 
of the government against the several claimants under 
Indian purchases ; but, in the meantime, it was or- 
dered that actual settlers should not be disturbed. f 

The scheme of Clark, which was one of the causes 
of his return to Kentucky, was (if his own words 
subsequently published are to be relied on) a political 
one. Having no faith in Henderson and Company's 
claim, it was, but natural he should reflect upon the 
condition of affairs in the new settlements so far as 
their government was concerned. 'T left the country 
(Kentucky)," he wrote years after, "in the Fall of 
1775, and returned in the Spring following. While in 
Virginia, I found there were various opinions respect- 
ing Henderson and Company's claim. Many thought 
it was good ; others doubted whether or not Virginia 

* "The Petition of the Inhabitants and some of the 
Intended Settlers of that Part of North America now- 
Denominated Transylvania to the Honorable, the Conven- 
tion of Virginia." {YloXYs Romance of Western History, 
where, on pp. 381-385, the Petition is published in full; 
also in Morehead's Address, pp. 159-161; and in other works.) 
There were eighty-eight signers, headed by James Harrod 
and Abm. Hite, Jun. The language of the petitioners was 
unequivocal : they considered themselves Virginians and 
asked the protection of the Colony of Virginia. 

t Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. I, pp. 449, 450. 



24 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

could with propriety have any pretensions to the coun- 
try. This was what I wanted to know. I immediately 
fixed on my plans, viz. : that of assembling the people 
— getting them to elect deputies, and send them to 
treat with the Assembly of Virginia respecting the con- 
dition of the country. If valuable conditions were 
procured, we could declare ourselves citizens of the 
State ; otherwise, we might establish an independent 
government, and, by giving away a great part of the 
lands and disposing of the remainder, we would not 
only gain great numbers of inhabitants, but in a good 
measure protect them." "^ 

Such was the visionary plan of young Clark, for- 
mulated in his mind in ignorance of the claim of Vir- 
ginia already put forth, and of the wishes of the set- 
tlers in Kentucky — at least, of a large portion of 
them — as clearly stated in their petition to the Vir- 
ginia Convention.f 

Besides, it is evident (if his statements just men- 
tioned are to be taken as true) that his plan was deter- 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
115. The words used by Clark — "When I was in Virginia," 
were intended by him to express only that he was then at 
his home over the mountains and not in the Kentucky 
country. 

t "I told them [Jefferson and Wythe] that the Transyl- 
vania Company, suspecting that they might be misrepresented, 
had sent me to make known to the gentlemen of the Congress, 
our friendly intentions towards the cause of liberty, etc. 

etc They observed that our purchase was within 

their [Virginia's] charter and gently hinted that, by virtue 
of it, they might claim the whole." — James Hogg to the 
Transylvania Company, January, 1776. (See Hall's Romance 
of Western History, p. 394.) Then, too there was the action 
taken by the Virginia Convention upon the receipt of the 
petition of the Kentucky settlers, just mentioned, 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 25 

mined upon while knowing nothing of the Hmits of 
Fincastle country to the westward as previously de- 
fined by Virginia. 

In the scheme of Clark — idle and fanciful though 
it was — there can be seen an ambition not wholly to 
be despised. It was a conviction by no means of the 
baser sort that could prompt him at once to determine 
upon his plans and to return to Kentucky resolved, if 
possible, to carry them out. Did he see political pre- 
ferment in their consummation? It would not have 
been surprising or disreputable if such were the fact, 
as it is evident he had not fully considered that his 
idea carried with it a menace which in the end surely 
would have denied the Kentucky settlers a hearing in 
the Virginia Convention. But, as will now be seen, 
these Kentucky pioneers were true to the principle set 
forth in the petition already sent forward to the Vir- 
ginia authorities. 

All that is known concerning the time of Clark's 
return to Kentucky is, that it was in the Spring of 
1776. His coming was a surprise, as it was supposed 
he had left the country permanently. His designs, 
crude as they were, he confided to no one. Tradition 
says it was generally believed in the settlements that 
love of adventure alone had brought him back. 

He subsequently (in his declining years) put upon 
record that, to carry his scheme into effect, he ap- 
pointed a general meeting at Harrodsburg, for the 
sixth of June, asserting, at the same time, that some- 
thing would be proposed to the people that very much 
concerned them. 'The reason I had," are his words 
in his narration of the steps taken by him, "for not 
publishing what I wished to be done before the day 
was, that the people should not get into parties on the 



26 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

subject; and as every one would wish to know what 
was to be done, there would be a more general meeting. 
But, unfortunately, it was late in the evening of that 
day (sixth of June) before I could get to the place. 
The people had been in some confusion, but at last con- 
cluded that the whole design was to send delegates to 
the Assembly of Virginia with a petition praying the 
Assembly to accept them as such — to establish a new 
county, etc. The polls were opened, and before I had 
arrived they had far advanced in the election, and had 
entered with such spirit into that I could not get 
them to change the principles — that of delegates zvith 
a petition, to that of deputies under the authority of 
the people. In short, I did not take much pains." * 

Evidently Clark, in thus claiming the honor of hav- 
ing called the Harrodsburg meeting, credited to him- 
self what he was not entitled to.f ''George Rogers 
Clark," says a Kentucky historian, "came to Kentucky 
for the first time in 1775. His second visit was in the 
spring of 1776, when the minds of many of the inhab- 
itants were agitated by the claim of the Transylvania 
Company to the tract of country, over which . . . 
they had attempted to establish a proprietary govern- 
ment. Dissatisfaction had arisen from numerous 
causes, which I need not pause to enumerate. They 
will be found embodied in a petition of the inhabitants 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
115, 116. 

t The short-comings of Clark in his Memoir have usually 
been attributed to his age; but another cause hereafter to be 
mentioned, had more to do with them than his years. It 
becomes necessary to point out in this narrative many of 
his questionable statements, because of their having been 
so often relied upon as altogether truthful by writers of 
Western history. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 27 

and some of the intended settlers of that part of North 
America, now denominated 'Transylvania' addressed 
'to the Honorable Convention of Virginia.' The Vir- 
ginia settlers in general, did not recognize the validity 
of the Company's jurisdiction, and declined making in- 
vestments in their land office. The emigrants from 
North Carolina, many of whom were brought by Col. 
Henderson to the country, were satisfied with the titles 
derived from him, and made their purchases accord- 
ingly. There were others, and a numerous class, with 
a proper foresight of results who preferred to take 
possession of such lands as suited them, and await the 
perfection of their claims, until the pending conflict 
of opinion should be determined, and the rightful sov- 
ereignty declared. On the 6th of June, 1776, a meet- 
ing was held at Harrodsburg to take the subject into 
consideration.'^ 

Another Kentucky historian says that Clark, after 
his arrival in the spring of 1776 in the Kentucky 
country, "reflected deeply on its value to Virginia as 
a frontier, as well as to the rest of the Confederacy. 
The result of these meditations suggested to him the 
importance of assembling the people of the country at 
Harrod's Town, as it was then called, to devise a 
plan for the public defense."t Now, this declaration 
of the Kentucky author is based solely upon Clark's 
scheme as already given. He overlooks the principal 
idea, which related to the Transylvania Company's 
claim, and sees only the one to protect the settlers 
from savage aggression ; and he would have the plan 
formulated by Clark after his arrival. 

* James T. Morehead: see his Address, pp. 52, 53. (The 
italicising in the extract is mine.) 

t Mann Butler : History of Kentucky, p. 37, 



28 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Other writers have followed in the same strain, add- 
ing somewhat to these declarations ; as, for instance : 
"His (Clark's) mind had been very early impressed 
with the immense importance of this frontier country 
(Kentucky) to the security of the parent State of Vir- 
ginia, as well as to the whole Confederacy, and his 
reflections on this subject led him to perceive the im- 
portance of a more thorough, organized, and extensive 
system of public defense, and a more regular plan of 
military operations than the slender resources of the 
Colonies had yet been able to effect."* 

A recent writer suggests that Clark, in view of 
the depredatitons which the Ohio Indians were com- 
mitting on the settlements, called the Harrodsburg 
meeting to devise a plan of defense ; and that his 
"plan was, to appoint delegates who should proceed 
to Williamsburg and petition the Assembly that Ken- 
tucky be made a county of Virginia."t The erection, 
however, of a new county to include the Kentucky 
settlements does not seem to have been any part of 
Clark's plan. 

The readiness with which Clark gave up his own 
project for that adopted by the settlers, clearly evinces 
a determination not very deeply rooted in his mind to 
carry out his plan. But there was reason why, had he 
been ever so determined before hand, he should now 
be easily placated. The people had agreed to send 
two delegates to take a petition to the Virginia Assem- 
bly and were voting for Clark and John Gabriel Jones 
for that duty. They were elected, it seems, without 
opposition. 

* Lewis Collins. (See his Kentucky (ed. of 1877), p. 133.) 
tDr. William Frederick Poole, in Winsor's Narrative 
aitd Critical History of America, vol. VI, p. 716 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 29 

The prime object in view was for these two to 
endeavor, if possible, to have a new Virginia county 
estabHshed, which should include all the Kentucky set- 
tlements. It is plain that Clark equally with his asso- 
ciate, soon entered spiritedly into the settlers' scheme. 
Both accepted the position to which they had been 
elected, hoping not only to reach Williamsburg before 
the adjournment of the Convention, but that they 
might be admitted to seats therein.* 

Before the adjournment of the Harrodsburg meet- 
ing, the credentials of the two delegates were made out 
and handed them, and a committee was apopinted 
to draft a petition to the Virginia Assembly expres- 
sive of the views of the settlers as to the impending 
conflict and as to their desire for the formation of a 
new county. The document was dated the twentieth 
of June and was given to Jones and Clark to be pre- 
seiited to the Virginia Convention on their arrival at 
Williamsburg. It announced that, if the Kentucky 
county could be admitted as a separate and distinct 
county of Virginia (such, at least, is the inference to 
be drawn from the words used) the people would 
willingly and cheerfully aid to the utmost of their 
ability every measure to secure the public peace and 
safety; particularly, they said, would it be impolitic 
for "such a respectable body of prime riflemen to re- 
main in a state of neutrality," while on the seaboard 
there was going forward on part of the patriot Colo- 
nists a desperate struggle for their liberties.f 

* See Appendix, Note VI. 

t Petition of the Committee of West Fincastle, June 20, 
1776, printed in John Mason Brown's Oration — "Blue 
Licks" pamphlet. I have not attempted to follow closely the 
wording of the Petition. 



30 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

With their credentials as delegates and the peti- 
tion of the West Fincastle committee, Clark and 
Jones started for Williamsburg. ''They selected the 
route through the southern wilderness, as it has gen- 
erally been called, lying between the settlements of 
Kentucky and those of Virginia, under most distres- 
sing difficulties. Independent of losing one of their 
horses, the extreme wetness of the season, and the 
danger of kindling fires, amidst straggling parties of 
Indians the traveling through the mud, and over the 
mountains, brought on a most painful affliction, called 
by the hunters, the scaldfeet. In this complaint, the 
feet become useless from excessive tenderness, and 
the skin decays; so that the weight of the body be- 
comes intolerable. While suffering in this manner, 
'more torment than I ever experienced,' says Clark, 
'before or since,' they found the old stations near the 
Cumberland Gap and Martin's Fort, where they 
fondly hoped to have found relief, both abandoned by 
the inhabitants owing to fear of the Indians. At the 
latter place, however, the desperate party determined 
to stay until their feet wxre recovered ; when this was 
accomplished, they again prosecuted their journey." * 
The two delegates, had they, without an}^ mishap, 
/ made the quickest possible time upon their way out, 
could not have reached Williamsburg before the break- 
ing up of the Assembly. That body, meeting on the 
sixth of May, 1776, was in session one day less 
than two months, having adjourned on the fifth _of 
July, to meet again on the seventh of October follow- 
ing, at the same place; meanwhile the declaration of 
independence had been made, a State constitution had 

* Butler's Kentucky, p. 38. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 31 

been adopted, and Patrick Henry elected governor. 
There was, therefore, no other alternative ; the petition 
of the West Fincastle pioneers must be held until the 
Virginia Legislature should again convene. 

Concerning the journey from Kentucky of himself 
and Jones, Clark wrote, years after, in these words : 
"In a few days (after his and Jones's election as dele- 
gates), we set out for Williamsburg, in the hope of 
arriving before the Assembly, then sitting, should 
rise. . . . We proceeded on our journey as far as 
Botetourt county, and there learned that we were too 
late; for the Assembly had already risen. We were 
now at a loss, for some time, to determine what to do, 
but concluded we should wait until tne fall session — 
in the ineantime, I should go to Williamsburg and at- 
tempt to procure some powder for the Kentuckians 
and watch their interests. We parted. Mr. Jones re- 
^/turned to Holston to join the forces that were raising, 
in order to repel the Cherokee Indians (as they had 
lately commenced hostilities) and myself proceeded to 
the governor of Virginia." * 

"Mr. Henry, the governor," are the further words 
of Clark, "lay sick at his seat in Hanover, where I 
waited on him, and produced my vouchers. He ap-" 
peared much disposed to favor the Kentuckians, and 
wrote by me to the Council on the subject. I attended 
them. My application was for five hundred pounds of 
.powder to be conveyed to Kentucky as an immediate 
supply. After various questions and consultations, 
the Council agreed to furnish the supply; but, as we 
were a detached people, and not yet united to the State 
of Virginia, and uncertain until the sitting of the As- 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
116. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note VII.) 



S2 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

sembly whether we should be, they would only lend us 
the ammunition as friends in distress, but that I must 
become answerable for it in case the Assembly should 
not receive us as citizens of the State. I informed 
them that it was out of my power to pay the expense 
of carriage and guards necessary for those supplies — 
that the British officers on our frontiers were making 
use of every effort to engage the Indians in the war — 
that the people might be destroyed for want of this 
small supply — and that I was in hopes they would 
consider these matters, and favor us by sending the 
ammunition at public expense. They replied that they 
were really disposed to do everything for us in their 
power consistent with their office, which I believed. 
After making use of many arguments to convince me 
that even what they proposed was a stretch of power, 
they informed me that 'they could venture no farther/ 
An order was issued to the keeper of the magazine to 
deliver me the ammunition. 

'T had for twelve months past reflected so much 
on the various situations of things respecting ourselves 
and the Continent at large, that my resolution was 
formed before I left the Council chamber. I resolved 
to return the order I had received, and immediately 
repair to Kentucky, knowing that the people would 
readily fall into my first plan — as what had passed 
had almost reduced it to a certainty of success. I 
wrote to the Council and inclosed the order, informing 
them that I had weighed the matter and found that it 
was out of my power to convey those stores at my 
own expense such a distance through an enemy's 
country — that I was sorry to find we should have to 
seek protection elsewhere, which I did not doubt of 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 33 

getting — that if a country was not worth protecting, 
it was not worth claiming, etc. 

"What passed on the reception of this letter, I can 
not tell. It was, I suppose, nothing more than what 
might be expected by a set of gentlemen zealous in 
the welfare of their country, and fully apprised of 
what they might expect to take place in Kentucky. 
I was sent for. Being a little prejudiced in favor of 
my mother country, I was willing to meet half way." * 

Clark then gives correctly the result. What was 
done is shown by the record of the Council: 

"In Council, Williamsburg, August 23d, 1776. 

"Mr. George Rogers Clark having represented to 
this Board the defenceless state of the inhabitants of 
Kentucky ; and having requested, on their behalf, that 
they should be supplied with five hundred weight of 
gun-powder ; 

"Ordered, therefore, that the said quantity of gun- 
powder be forthwith sent to Pittsburgh, and delivered 
to the commanding officer at that station, by him to be 
safely kept, and delivered to the said George Rogers 
Clark, or his order, for the use of the said inhabitants 
of Kentucky. 

John Page, Pres't. 

"Test, Arch'd Blair, CI. Coun." f 

Clark, it will be noticed, says he told the Council 
that the British officers on the frontiers were making 
use of every effort to engage the Indians in the war. 
This, he* hardly would have said, for the reason that, 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
116, 117. 

t Butler's Kentucky, ed, of 1834, p. 394; ed. of 1836, 
p. 488. 

3 



34 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

first, such was not the fact, and, second, he had not 
been in a position to find it out even if true. But his 
most absurd declaration is, that he at once resolved to 
send back the order he had received, and immediately 
return to Kentucky, knowing that the people would 
readily fall into his first plan, "as what had passed had 
almost reduced it to a certainty of success." He for- 
gets that the people had not sent him to the Virginia 
Council at all. He forgets that he had not been 
requested by the Kentuckians to obtain powder in 
any quantity. He forgets that he had agreed 
with his associate Jones, to remain at Willliams- 
burg until the Virginia Assembly had again met. 
The statement, also, that the Council suggested to 
Clark that the Kentuckians were a detached people 
and not yet united to the State of Virginia, and it was 
uncertain until the sitting of the Assembly whether 
they would be so united, — would hardly have been 
made, in view of what had already taken place in the 
Convention as to the determination of the western lim- 
its of Virginia in the constitution it had formed and 
particularly in view of the action taken upon the peti- 
tion sent in by the Kentuckians some time before. 

That Clark applied for the powder and after some 
trouble succeeded in getting it and also an order for 
its transportation to Pittsburgh is certain: but that 
the circumstances occurred in all the detail given by 
him years after his success, is inadmissable. 

It is probable, however, that since the middle of the 
previous year, Clark had, as he asserts, reflected much 
on the various situations of things respecting the Ken- 
tucky settlements and "the Continent at large." It 
agrees with his previous declaration and with the 
course pursued by him after his return from over thq 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 35 

mountains. But that his reflections thus far had 
mostly been confined to the carrying out of his plans 
as developed at the Harrodsburg meeting is evident.* 

Upon assembhng, in the fall, of the Virginia Leg- 
islature, Clark and Jones laid before the members the 
petition of the Kentucky settlers. ''I waited until the 
fall session," says Clark, ''when I was joined by my 
colleague, Mr. Jones. We laid our papers before the 
Assembly. They resolved that we could not take our 
seats as members, but that our business should be at- 
tended to. Colonel Henderson, one of the purchasers 
of the Cherokees, being present, retarded our business. 
Colonel Arthur Campbell, one of the members, being 
also opposed to our having a new county, wished us 
annexed to the county, on the frontiers of which we 
lay, and which ^he represented. This caused it to be 
late in the session (December 7, 1776) before we got 
a complete estabhshment of a county by the name of 
Kentucky." f 

The boundaries of the new county corresponded 
with those of the present State of Kentucky. 

The marauds of the savages across the Ohio east 
and south into the border settlements of Pennsylvania 
and Virginia (including in the last-named State those 
of Kentucky), are now to be noticed to the end that a 
just idea may be formed of the danger, actual and im- 
aginary, which, in 1776, threatened the settlers. 

Two prisoners were captured in Kentucky by the 
Mingoes and hurried across the Ohio — fortunately, 
however, before Morgan had left the Scioto, and they 
were rescued by him and brought safely to Pittsburg. 

* See Appendix to our narrative, Note VIII. 
t Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp, 
117, 118. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note IX.) 



36 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Then followed the killing, by a party of Shawanese, of 
two persons near the Big Bone Lick and the taking of 
a woman prisoner; but the latter was rescued by a 
pursuing party of borderers, who killed and scalped 
two of the Shawanese. In September, it came to the 
knowledge of Morgan, at Fort Pitt, that a number of 
Wyandots, two Mingoes and one Ottawa were on the 
war path down the Hockhocking river, intending to 
strike the Virginians. The timely warning saved the 
borderers ; for the proper precautions were at once 
taken, which the savages discovering they returned 
without striking a blow. 

Notwithstanding the treaty at Fort Pitt with the 
savages late in October, the borderers did not slacken 
their efforts looking to protection against their inroads. 
All along the Ohio, on its eastern side,- from a consid- 
erable distance below Wheeling to Pittsburgh, block- 
houses were erected at intervals, and the militia 
"scouted'' in the woods in various directions. The 
most fear was from a gang of Mingoes living at Plug- 
gystown (now Delaware, Ohio), who had no repre- 
sentation at the Fort Pitt treaty. Before the close of 
the year, they had committed a number of depreda- 
tions across the Ohio, killing and making prisoners of 
the borderers without distinction of sex and regard- 
less of age. Their depredations were at points as far 
up the Ohio as Grave Creek and as far down that 
stream as the mouth of the Great Kanawha. At Fort 
Randolph, a Virginia post at the junction of the river 
last named with the Ohio, Captain Matthew Arbuckle, 
in command of its garrison, used his earnest endeavors 
to keep the Shawanese friendly ; notwithsanding 
which, some of these Indians, in December, went upon 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 37 

a maraud into the Kentucky settlements, killing three 
persons. 

Such was the extent of the hostile acts of the In- 
dians from the country northwest of the Ohio (among 
whom as we have seen were the Pluggystown savages, 
who were a lawless band, without any tribal relation). 
There was not yet "open war" on the part of any of 
the nations of that region against the border settle- 
ments of the Americans ; that is, none of the nations, 
assembled in solemn council called by the British or 
their own chiefs, had taken up the hatchet, as yet, to go 
upon the warpath across the Ohio. 

When Clark had finally succeeded not only in se- 
curing the five hundred pounds of powder asked for, 
/ but in getting it transported to Pittsburg at the expense 
of Virginia, he wrote to Kentucky giving information 
of what had been done and recommending that' the 
ammunition be sent for and conveyed to that country 
by water ; but his letter was not received ; and, before 
the two delegates got ready to start home, they 
learned it had not left Pittsburgh ; so they resolved to 
go that way on their return. They got the powder 
and with it hurried down the Ohio until a point was 
reached near where Maysville now stands, where their 
cargo was secreted. They then proceeded on their 
journey. At McClelland's Station, after their arrival 
a party of ten men (including Jones, who went as 
guide) under John Todd, all on horseback, set out to 
bring in the powder, Clark meanwhile going on to 
Harrodsbiirg. On the twenty-fifth of December they 
were attacked on the waters of the Licking by Indians, 
Jones and two others being killed,* and one taken 

* See Clark's Diary printed in Morehead's Address, pp. 
161-164. This Diary, in general, is very reliable; what few 



38 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

prisoner. The residue escaped. A second attempt was 
more successful. On the second of January, 1777, 
James Harrod raised a company of about thirty men 
at Harrodsburg (where Clark had arrived some days 
before) to go after the hidden cargo. They returned 
without accident with their valuable freight. f 

errors occur are mostly inadvertencies — mere slip of the 
pen. The entry concerning the disaster mentioned above 
is as follows : "Dec. 25 — Ten men going to the Ohio for 
powder — met on the waters of Licking Creek by Indians 
and defeated — John G. Jones, William Graden and Josiah 
Dixon were killed." (As to the injustice done the memory 
of Jones by several writers of Western history, see Appendix 
to our narrative. Note X.) 

t Collin's Kentucky (ed. of 1877), pp.466, 467, 552, 656. 
(See Appendix to our narrative, Note XI.) 



CHAPTER III. 

SCARCELY had the year 1777 been ushered in 
when Hamilton, at Detroit, bestirred himself to 
keep awake the war-spirits of the savages. He 
was soon written to by Carleton from Quebec : "I am 
persuaded you will exert your best endeavors," said 
the Governor, "for the king's service. To your own 
prudence and judgment, at this distance, much must 
be left. The Legislative Council is met, but the times 
will not at present admit of any regulations being 
n.dde for distant or remote situatiois. While the com- 
motions continued, the power of the sword is chiefly, 
and indeed only to be trusted to. The keeping the 
Indians firm in the king's interest ought to be your 
first and great object." "^ 

There wxre of the military force at Detroit, at this 
date, under command of Captain Lernoult, four com- 
panies of the Eighth (or King's) regiment, one com- 
pany of the Forty-seventh, and two of Butler's Rang- 
ers — in all about five hundred. The policy as to the 
Rangers after Sir William Joh^.sor's time was, to 
intermix them with the Indians when on service, and 
to have them commanded, not by regulars, but by "In- 
dian officers;" that is, by officers from the Indian 
Department.f At first, none but those acquainted 

* Carleton to Hamilton, Feb. 2, 1777. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

fThe Captains and Lieutenants in the Indian Depart- 
ment were known as "Indian officers" to distinguish them 
from officers in the regular service or in the militia. This 
distinction was kept up in all the correspondence of the 
commandants of the various ports with their superior offi- 
ces. But it is to be understood those ''Indian officers" were 
never Indians. 



40 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

with the Indians and their language were admitted to 
the corps ; — afterward, this distinction was not made. 

The arrival of several bands of savages at Detroit 
from their "wintering," gave Hamilton the strongest 
assurance that they would prove, in the end,, subser- 
vient to his will. Their behavior was such as to com- 
mend itself to the Lieutenant Governor, who had pre- 
viously expressed his desire to meet them and other 
Indian Deputies of the various nations, in council. 
He was anxiously awainting orders from Carleton as 
to what should be done in their management, and he 
wrote the Governor that he would detain them from 
the time of their assembling for a ''talk" until he got 
advices from ''below." "As some of the Delawares 
appear wavering," said he, "I have given one of their 
chiefs a belt with a present, to induce them to come 
to the council, when I make no doubt they will be 
influenced as I would wish." * 

The "talk" with the savages, proposed by Hamil- 
ton was necessarily delayed. By the middle of June, 
he wrote Carleton that the Ottawas, Chippewas, Potta- 
wattamies, Hurons (Wyandots), and Miamis had 
arrived; that there were also some Shawanese, Dela- 
wares and Weas, but they were few in number. "I 
shall keep them together," he said, "as long as pos- 
sible, in expectation of your Excellency's orders. Al- 
though the majority should return home, I make no 
doubt of being able to assemble a thousand warriors 
in three weeks should your Excellency have occasion 
for their services." * He did not know that "orders" 

* Hamilton to Carleton, May 11, 1777. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

* Hamilton to Carleton, June 15, 1777. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 41 

from even a higher source were on their way authoriz- 
ing him to employ the savages in the work of devasta- 
tion and death; such, however, was the fact, as will 
now be seen. 

Before the ending of March, Lord George Ger- 
main had written Carleton: "In consideration," said 
his lordship, "of the measures proper to be pursued in 
the next campaign, the making a diversion on the 
frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania, by parties of 
Indians conducted by proper leaders, as proposed by 
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, has been maturely 
weighed. That officer, in his letter to the Earl of 
Dartmouth, dated at Detroit, the second of September 
last, said that he had then with him Deputies from 
the Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyandots, Shawanese, Se- 
necas, Delawares, Cherokees and - Pottawatamies that 
their inclination was for war; and that it was with 
much difficulty he had restrained them from hostilities, 
which he thought it his duty to do, finding by a letter 
from you dated the nineteenth of July, that you had 
sent back some Ottawas who had offered their ser- 
vices, desiring them to hold themselves in readiness 
next spring. 

"There can be little doubt that the Indians are 
still in the same disposition and that they will readily 
and eagerly engage in any enterprise in which it may 
be thought fit to employ them under the direction of 
the king's officers; and as it is his Majesty's resolu- 
tion that the most vigorous efforts should be made, 
every means employed that providence has put into 
his Majesty's hands, for crushing the rebellion and 
restoring the constitution, it is the king's command 
that you should direct Lieutenant Governor Hamilton 
to assemble as many of the Indians of his district as 



42 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

he conveniently can, and placing proper persons at 
their head, to whom he is to make suitable allowances, 
to conduct their parties, and restrain them from com- 
mitting violence on the well affected and inoffensive 
inhabitants, employ them in making a diversion and 
exciting an alarm upon the frontiers of Virginia and 
Pennsylvania. And as there is good ground to be- 
lieve there are considerable numbers of loyal subjects 
in those parts who would gladly embrace an oppor- 
tunity of delivering themselves from the tyranny and 
oppression of the rebel committees ; it is his Majesty's 
pleasure that you do authorize and direct Lieutenant 
Governor Hamilton to invite all such loyal subjects 
to join him and assure them of the same pay and al- 
lowances as are given to his Majesty's corps raised 
in America, and that such of them as shall continue 
to serve his Majesty until the rebellion is suppressed 
and peace restored shall each receive his Majesty's 
bounty of 200 acres of land. 

''These offers it is hoped will induce many persons 
to engage in the king's service; which may enable 
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton to extend his opera- 
tions, so as to divide the attention of the rebels, and 
oblige them to collect a considerable force to oppose 
him, which cannot fail of weakening their main army 
and facilitating the operations directed to be carried 
on against them in other quarters, and thus bring 
the war to a more speedy issue and restore those de- 
luded people to their former state of happiness and 
prosperity, which are the favorite wishes of the royal 
breast and the great object of all his Majesty's meas- 
ures. 

"A supply of presents for the Indians and other 
necessaries will be wanted for this service, and you 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 43 



will of course send Lieutenant Governor Hamilton 
what is proper and sufficient. 

"Inclosed is a lot of names of several persons re- 
siding on the frontiers of Virginia recommended by 
Lord Dunmore for their loyalty and attachment to 
Government and who, his Lordship thinks, will be 
able to give great assistance to Lieutenant Governor 
Hamilton through their extensive influence among the 
inhabitants." * 

This letter was sent by Carleton to Hamilton for 
his ''instruction and guidance." "I have only to add," 
says the Governor, ''that Lieutenant Colonel St. Leger 
has similar orders for the savages of the Five Nations 
and others. You will, therefore, be careful not to at- 
tempt to draw off any destined for his command. Let 
me know what provisions you want ; in the meantime 
some shall be sent you at a venture. "f 

The time had now come when the cruel sugges- 
tions of Hamilton to Germain — "the making a di- 
^version on the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania by parties of Indians conducted by proper lead-^ 
ers" — was to be acted upon, — the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor being fully prepared to carry out his murderous 
plan. It had been devised by the latter with a full 
knowledge of what the awful consequences would be 
if adopted by the British government. To him and to 
him alone is to be charged the baleful proposal — de- 
structive in its conception, and full of calamities and 
most deadly sorrow and woe. 

* Germain to Carleton, March 26, 1777. — Haldimand 
MSS. (See as to the list of the names sent, of persons 
supposed to be loyal, History of the Girty's, pp. 32, 33.) 

t Carleton to Hamilton, May 21, 1777. — Haldimand 
MSS. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note XXL) 



44 HISTORY OF CLARk'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The next day after the reception of Carleton's 
orders, Hamilton called together the savages in coun- 
cil and then delivered to them a war hatchet, which 
they accepted with a war dance. This was the real 
beginning of the Western Border War — the letting 
loose the "horrible hell-hoimds of savage war" upon 
the exposed frontiers. It was on the seventeenth of 
June. On the eighteenth he read to the assembled 
savages a proclamation intended for distribution upon 
the border."^ "By virtue," were its words, "of the 
power and authority to me given by his Excellency, 
Sir Guy Carleton, Knight of the Bath, Governor of 
the Province of Quebec, General and Commander-in- 
Chief, etc., etc., I assure all such as are inclined to 
withdraw themselves from the tyranny and oppres- 
sion of the rebel committees, and take refuge in this 
settlement, or any of the posts commanded by his 
Majesty's officers, that they shall be humanely treated; 
shall be lodged and victualed ; and such as are officers 
in arms and shah use them in defense of his Majesty 
against rebels and traitors till the extinction of this 
rebellion, shall receive pay adequate to their former 
stations in the rebel service; and all common men 
who shall serve during that period shall receive his 
Majesty's bounty of two hundred acres of land." f A 
few of these proclamations, dated subsequently, found 

* "Published [June 18th] the Proclamation encouraging 
the Royalists, to the nations in the Council." — Hamilton's 
"Journal" of June 16-July 3, 1777: Haldimand MSS. (The 
"nations" he refers to were the several Indian nations assem- 
bled at Detroit and then in council.) 

f Pennsylvania Archives , First Series, Vol. V, p. 402. 
From the wording of the proclamation, it is evident tha+ 
Hamilton based it upon the "Instructions" of Germain is 
given in his letter to Carleton of the twenty-sixth of March, 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 45 

their way across the border, being left where incursions 
were made (and sometimes on the dead bodies of bor- 
dermen) by the savages or by Rangers accompanying 
them."^ They were signed by Hamilton as ''Lieutenant 
Governor and Superintendent;" and some were soon 
read by indignant Whigs in the settlements on the 
headwaters of the Ohio. 

The Lieutenant Governor was not slow in his en- 
deavors, by every means in his power, to engage the 
savages and fit them out for the aggressive Indian 
war against the "rebels" which had at his express 
suggestion and desire, been authorized by Germain. 
White officers were appointed to go with the warriors ; 
and war-hatchets were sent to the various nations not 
in the immediate vicinity of Detroit. To the savages 
who accepted these, ammunicion was immediately sent. 
Near the middle of July, Hamilton \vrrote Germain : 
"Parties are daily setting off for the frontiers, which 
have with most of them interpreters and are furnished 
with placards inviting the well-disposed to have re- 
course to his Majesty's clemency; and towards the 
last of the month he sent his Lordship, "an account 
of Indians gone to war" from Detroit : 

"Seven parties before the i8th of July. . 178 

"Interpreters and Rangers 22 

"From the 18th to the 27th [of July] 

eight parties in 

"Indian officers and Rangers 8 

"Total 319 

"I have no particular account of the distant nations 
except the Miamis [at the head of the Maumee,] who, 

* Pennsylvania Archives, First .Series, vol. V, p. 741. 
Compare, in this connection, Farmer's History of Detroit 
and Michigan, p. 249. 



46 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

I am told, are, most of them, preparing to set out with 
some volunteer whites from their villages. 
Parties are forming daily [at Detroit], and a perfect 
cheerfulness and obedience has appeared hitherto." * 

Hamilton sent Germain another letter, early in 
September, wherein he said: "At the best computa- 
tion which can be made eleven hundred and fifty 
warriors are now dispersed over the frontiers. Seven 
hundred are on the list who have had their equipment 
or at least ammunition from this place [Detroit]" . 

. . The officers [that is, white men — 'Tndian of- 
ficers"] who have been appointed to the savages have 
gone to war with them, and some of them acquitted 
themselves well."f 

Now that Hamilton might better confer with 
Carleton concerning public affairs, he concluded to 
make a flying visit to Montreal and Quebec. He left 
Detroit in the early days of September, having been 
preceded a considerable time by Captain Lernoult. 

Because of the success of the ''rebels" to the east- 
ward, Carleton became alarmed lest the Western posts 

* Hamilton to Germain, July 24 and 27, 1777. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. "Hamilton, the lieutenant-governor of Detroit, 
in obedience to orders from the secretary of state [Lord 
George Germain] sent out fifteen several parties, consisting 
in the aggregate of two hundred and eighty-nine braves 
with thirty white officers and rangers." [Bancroft — History 
of the United States (ed. of 1885) , vol. V, p. 168.] This, 
it will be seen, is taken from the letter just cited; but, as' 
given by that historian, it is indefinite. "White officers" 
might include Detroit militia or even regulars; whereas, as 
the letter shows, the whites were interpreters, "Indian offi- 
cers," and Rangers; the first and last mentioned may or may 
not have been officers. 

. t H^tnilton to Germain, Sept, 5, 1777. — Haldimand 
MSS, 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 47 

might be menaced; so he sent orders on the twenty- 
first to have Hamilton repair immediately to Detroit, 
"I shall order," said he, "Captain Lernoult there as 
soon as possible which will settle all matters that have 
been in dispute." * And three days after, he wrote 
the Niagara commandant [Lieutenat Colonel Mason 
Bolton] that he understood a disagreement had hap- 
pened at Detroit, between the officer, Captain John 
Mompesson, who had commanded there in the absence 
of Captain Lernoult, and Hamilton, "which," said he, 
"must be attended with bad consequences to the king's 
service." "I am to desire," he continued, "you will 
order Captain Lernoult to return and take the com- 
mand of that post, on whose judgment and discretion 
I can thoroughly rely to put an end to these animosi- 
ties. I make no doubt he will be an aid and assistant 
to Mr. Hamilton in all things in his department and 
in forwarding everything else which may tend to the 
pubHc good." t 

In the first half of October Hamilton returned to 
Detroit, giving his whole time, immediately upon his 
arrival, to public affairs. And not. long thereafter 
Captain Lernoult again was in comamnd of the Detroit 
garrison. 

*Carleton to Cramahe, Sept. 21, 1777. — Haldimand 
MSS. Hamilton was then in Quebec. See a letter of that 
date written there, but without signature (generally, although 
erroneously, ascribed to John Dodge) , published in Almon's 
Remembrances , vol. VI, and in the Virginia Gazette July 
17, 1779, concerning Hamilton's official oppression at Detroit. 
This letter is also printed in full in Farmer's History of 
Detroit and Michigan, p. 173. 

tSame to Col. Bolton, Sept. 24, 1777. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



48 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Turning our attention from Detroit to the settle- 
ments upon the upper waters of the Ohio, we shall see 
that, early in 1777, small war parties of savages made 
their appearance therein. However, these marauds 
were only the casual droppings of the rain before the 
pitiless storm — Hamilton at Detroit, as already 
shown, not having, until the beginning of summer, 
sent his Indian allies, armed and equipped, against 
the border settlements to kill and destroy. The most 
serious trouble continued from the Pluggystown In- 
dians. Preparations were set on foot to punish these 
savages, by Virginia; but the undertaking was finally 
laid aside for fear of offending the Delawares, upon 
the Muskingum and the neutral Shawanese farther to 
the westward. 

As early as September, 1775, Virginia wisely 
garrisoned the dilapidated Fort Pitt and held posses- 
sion of it until the first day of June, 1777, when Gen- 
eral Edward Hand of the Continental army arrived 
and assumed the chief command of the Western De- 
partment. In August following, Mingoes from the 
Scioto, Wyandots from the Sandusky, with a few 
Shawanese and Delawares crossed the Ohio to attack 
Fort Henry (formerly Fort Fincastle) at Wheeling. 
It was the first attempt by the Indians against the 
frontier, in force, after Hamilton's virtual declaration 
of war against the borderers. Fifteen Americans were 
killed and five wounded. Soon after, at a distance be- 
low the fort, the Wyandots attacked, on the east side 
of the Ohio, a reconnoitering expedition sent out from 
Wheeling, killing twenty-one, wounding several, and 
capturing one. When, finally, the Shawanese all 
joined the hostile nations, there could no longer be any 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 49 

doubt but open war had been resolved upon all the 
Ohio Indians (except the Delawares and possibly the 
Wyandots, notwithstanding Morgan had made stren- 
uous efforts to induce them to hold another council 
with him at Pittsburgh. 

At the date of Hamilton's being made Lieutenant 
Governor of Detroit, David Abbott was appointed to 
a like office for Vincennes ; but hfe did not reach his 
post until the nineteenth of May, 1777. He met with 
a cordial welcome from the inhabitants, mostly French 
Canadians, whom he required to take an oath of 
fidelity to his Government. He formed three com- 
panies of militia ; but the savages of the Wabash gave 
him considerable trouble. "The Indians are striving," 
he wrote, "to set the French [meaning the Vincennes 
people] against the English Government and have told 
many of them I should not live long. I am endeavor- 
ing, to secure myself as well as I can, by stockading 
the cabin I am in. I have likewise desired Monsieur 
Rocheblave to send me four pieces of cannon from 
the Illinois, which he writes he has done." * 

Towards the close of the year Abbott wrote that his 
stockade was half finished and would be completed in 
a fortnight.f It was named Fort Sackville.:|: 

* Abbott to Carleton, July 9, 1777. ~ Haldimand MSS.; 
and Rocheblave to the former, June 1, 1777— in same. The 
cannon were iron and were sent on the second of June 

t Abbott to Carleton, Nov. 23, 1777. — Haldimand MSS. 

JThe old cathedral at the end of Second street [in 
Vincennes] marks the spot of the beginning of Caucasian 
civilization in Indiana, while hard by it on the river bank 
stood the first rude fort in Indiana, and a little later the 
stronger Fort Sackville." (E. A. Bryan, in "Indiana's First 



50 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

During the next January he determined to leave 
his post and return to Detroit. His reasons were to 
avoid the large expense for presents to the savages 
(who were soon expected from their ''hunt") which 
he would be compelled to incur or exasperation on 
their part would follow. He started from Vincennes 
on the third day of February, 1778, and after a pain- 
ful journey through the woods arrived with his family 
at Detroit on the seventh of March, — leaving J. M. 
P. Legras in command of the militia upon his de- 
parture. 

While at Vincennes, Abbott used every effort to 
keep the Wabash Indians firm in their alliance with 
his Government, nevertheless, so much was he ham- 
pered with a scarcity of supplies that, in reality, as 
his letters to his superiors show, his aid amounted to 
little; hence it was that the savages near him were 
inclined to listen to Spanish emissaries, and were at 
times open in their declarations of friendship also for 
the "Long Knives." The borderers in Kentucky, 
therefore, (and Clark was of the number), put too 
much stress upon the help given the Indians at Vin- 
cennes. The Lieutenant Governor's policy had been 
not to directly encourage the savages to make war 
upon the inoffensive settlers on the border of Virginia ; 
however, though he deplored their marauds, his giv- 
ing presents of ammunition and other warlike stores 
to the Indians, helped them to carry on their murder- 
ous visitations. 

Settlement" — Magazine of American History, vol. XXI, 
p. 394.) It was, however, some years after the abandon- 
ment of the French fort before Abbott erected Fort Sack- 
ville, and the two evidently did not occupy the same ground. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 51 

The policy inaugurated by Captain Lord at the 
IlHnois and bequeathed by him, upon his retiring from 
that command to Rocheblave, was not to excite the 
savages to take up the hatchet against the Americans, 
but to hold them in the interest of his Government 
generally. Rocheblave continued to act upon it; and 
thus it was that no war-parties were sent out by him 
against the Kentucky settlements. Even had he been 
otherwise inclined, he was without supplies or funds 
to procure them to fit out Indians for war. To June, 
1777, it had not been, as we have seen, the policy of 
any one in command in the West to send warriors 
against the American border across the Ohio; and 
the most that Rocheblave had done was, to encourage 
a war chief of the Kickapoos on the Illinois river, in 
the late spring of the . year last mentioned, to visit 
Hamilton at Detroit. During the residue of the time 
the Illinois commander held his office — only a twelve- 
month — his hands were completely tied, so that at 
the end he could only aver that the Indians were in 
general well enough disposed toward the English, but 
that it was difficult to control them with the small 
militia force at his command; and that all he could 
do was to destroy the impressions made by the Spanish 
and by emissaries of the Americans upon their minds. ■^' 

As the Spaniards occupied the west side of the 
Mississippi at St. Louis and St. Genevieve, their prox- 
imity and evident leaning toward the Americans made 
them, particularly, objects of annoyance and alarm to 
Rocheblave. The movement also of Captain James 
Willing in an armed boat down the Ohio from Pitts- 
burgh,- on his way to attack the British planters be- 

* Rocheblave to Carleton. — Haldimand MSS. (See 
Mason's Early Chicago and Illinois, p. 417.) 



52 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

low, on the left side of the Mississippi, gave the Illi- 
nois commandant much uneasiness. He continued to 
keep the Governor of Canada well-informed of all 
things which to his mind seemed of interest or im- 
portance, down to the fourth day of July, 1778, when 
his letter-writing suddenly terminated. The "fraudu- 
^ lent neutrality" he declared, on that day, of the Spani- 
ards, was what gave him still the most concern. What 
he denied above all things was, that a body of troops 
should be sent to the Illinois ; as he plainly saw there 
was trouble ahead — ''a numerous band of brigands" 
would establish "a chain of communication," not easily 
to be broken, between the Colonists and the Span- 
iards.* Little did he imagine, however, that almost 
within sight, marching down upon him, not with ban- 
ners unfurled nor with drums beating, was a ''band," 
not of "brigands" but of patriots, who would, all too 
soon for his quietude, fulfill his prophecy to the letter. 

* Id. (The entire letter is translated into English, on 
pp. 412-418, of the work last cited.) In speaking of Roche- 
blave's career, Mr. Mason says (p. 368) : "His services 
were especially valuable in regard to the Indians among whom 
his military experience and long association with them as 
a French partisan gave him influence, and he kept the tribe"; 
in his neighborhood quiet, and the routes of the Ohio and 
Mississippi open for a considerable time by personal efforts 
alone [the italicising is mine]." 



CHAPTER IV. 

Now that Virginia had erected west of the Big 
Sandy river and the Cumberland mountains, the 
county of Kentucky, the next step was its organiza- 
tion. This was effected in the spring of 1777 accord- 
ing to law and in the same manner as other counties 
had been organized. A county seat — Harrodsburg, 
as it was now generally called — was established; jus- 
tices of the peace were appointed (who jointly con- 
stituted a county court), also a sheriff and clerk. A 
county lieutenant — John Bowman — was commis- 
sioned, but did not reach Harrodsburg until the sec- 
ond of September. Clark was commisisoned major.* 
By the fifth of March, he had the militia enrolled. 
Owing to their small number (three companies : one 
at Boonesborough, under Captain Daniel Boone; one 
at Logan's Fort, under Captain Benjamin Logan; and 
one at Harrodsburg under Captain James Harrod) no 
lieutenant colonel was appointed and no colonel. Be- 

* ''In this visit [to 'Harrods town,' in 1775], he [Clark] 
either had a commission of major, or was from his service 
in Dunmore's War and prominent talents, voluntarily placed 
at the head of the irregular troops, then in Kentucky. He 
himself only speaks of settling in the fall of '77, the accounts 
of the Kentucky militia which would confirm the idea of his 
previous command, besides, being known at that time as 
Major Clark." — Butler's Kentucky, p. 37. It is certain, 
however, that Clark had no commission whatever in Ken- 
tucky until that of major was given him in the early part of 
1777. It is probable that his commission was dated before 
the tenth of March, as, on that day, Governor Henry speaks 
of a field officer of Kentucky militia see Henry's Patrick 
Henry, vol. Ill, p. 44), in such was as to raise the pre- 
sumption one had already been comrnissioned. 



54 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

sides the three captains, there were commisisoned the 
usual officers under them. Finally, in order that the 
county might be represented in the Virginia Legisla- 
ture, two burgesses — John Dodd and Richard Calla- 
way — were chosen on the nineteenth of April.* 
They set off for Williamsburg on the twenty-third of 
May.f 

The first blow, in 1777, of the savages in the West, 
fell upon the settlers of Kentucky county; but Clark 
was wide awake and used every exertion in his power 
in defense of the settlements. Not having the Dela- 
wares and those Shawanese who remained friendly to 
the borders, to interpose a barrier between themselves 
and the Indians already won over to British interests, 
as had the frontier men, to a certain extent, upon the 
upper waters of the Ohio, the inhabitants quickly felt 
the effects of Hamilton's insiduous "talks," even be- 
fore he had delivered the war-hatchet to his dusky 
allies. Governor Henry was not asleep to the danger 
threatening the Kentucky pioneers. He had reason 
to believe that, with the return of Spring, savage 
marauds across the Ohio would be frequent and he 
feared, as a consequence the few stations would be en- 
tirely broken up. However, he would avert the ca- 
lamity if possible : 

"You are to embody," he wrote the County Lieuten- 
ant of Montgomery county pn the tenth of March, 
"fifty men of your militia under the usual officers, and 
order them to Kentucky. In conjunction with fifty 
others from Botetourt, they are to protect and defend 

* Clark's Diary — Morehead's Address, p. 162. 

fCollins's Kentucky (ed. of 1877), p. 615. But that 
writer substitutes, doubtless inadvertently, Richmond for 
Williamsburg. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 55 

the settlers there 'til further orders. In case it shall 
be judged impossible to hold the country with this 
reinforcement joined to the inhabitants there, they are 
to escort all the people with their effects to the nearest 
place of safety, and then to disband, if no other orders 
are given by me or by my direction. 

"This detachment to Kentucky must be victualed 
there as I understand provisions are plenty and cheap. 

"The great variety of war in which this State is 
engaged, makes it impossible to spare such a number 
of men for this expedition as I could wish ; and also 
requires that you raise the men in the interior parts of 
your county least liable to invasion. 

"You will give the officer you send orders con- 
formable to the above. If a field officer of Kentucky 
should be on the spot, he will take the command; if 
not, the eldest captain that commands the reinforce- 
ment." 

The Governor added : "There is powder, I hear 
arrived at Kentucky. Lead must be had with you. 
An order accompanies this."'^ 

To the officers who would command the force 
marching to the help of Kentucky, the Virginia execu- 
tive, on the twenty-ninth, gave explicit instructions : 
"The quantity of provisions," said he, "and the num- 
ber of pack-horses are great, but the service being 
necessary, it must be done, though I hope it may be 
conducted on the cheapest terms circumstances will 
allow. I suppose the meat must be had in your parts, 
but the flour had better be obtained out at the Great 
Island, or purchased and taken with you and wagoned 
to that place, where there are a number of public 

* Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. Ill, p. 44. 



56 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

horses that may be taken to ca.rry it to Kentucky. 
Let the horses be brought immediately and left at such 
place as Col. Shelby directs, as they may be wanted 
again to visit the Cherokees ; and without them great 
inconvenience may arise. The officer commanding 
your militia must pass his receipt for all the public 
property he receives. 

'Tt is impossible to prescribe the time the rein- 
forcements are to serve at Kentucky. They must stay 
as long as the preservation of the lives of the people 
make it absolutely necessary and no longer. I ex- 
pect you will employ proper persons to get the pro- 
visions on the most frugal plan. Certainly some al- 
lowance might be made for wild meat, and so some 
abatement in the number of pack-horses and othei 
charges. I need not tell you of the necessity of fru- 
gality,- arising from the great extent and variety of 
military operations that altogether bring on monstroUvS 
expense to the State. I would send up ammunition 
but have no conveyance. If the quantity necessary 
can be had your way, it shall be replaced from here 
by the first wagon. Major Bledsoe has orders to de- 
liver the pack-horses necessary out of the public horses 
near the Great Island. I hope less than you mention 
will do."* 

Clark's daily record of events while acting as 
major of the Kentucky militia is full of interest. 
These are the incidents he notes from February to 
(and including) the nineteenth of April following; he 
was then at Harrodsburg : 

"February. — Nothing remarkable done. 

*Id., p. 53. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 57 

"March 5. — Militia of the county [Kentucky] em- 
bodied. 

March 6. — Thomas Shores and WiUiam Ray killed 
at the Shawanese Spring [by Indians] . 

March 7. — The Indians attempted to cut off from 
the fort [Harrodsburg] a small party of our men. A 
skirmish ensued. We had four men wounded and 
some cattle killed. We killed and scalped one Indian 
and wounded several. 

"March 8. — Brought in corn from the different 
cribs until the i8th day. 

"March 9. — Express sent to the settlement [i. e., 
over the mountains, probably to Williamsburg]. 
Ebenezer Corn and company arrived from Captain 
Linn on the Mississippi. 

"March 18. — A small party of Indians killed and 
scalped Hugh Wilson, about half a mile from the fort 
[Harrodsburg], near night and escaped. 

"March 19. — Archibald McNeal died of his 
wounds received on the 7th inst. [in the skirmish at 
Harrodsburg] . 

"March 28. — A large party of Indians attacked 
the stragglers about the fort [Harrodsburg], killed 
and scalped Garret Pendergrast, — killed or took 
prisoner Peter Flin. 

"April 7. — Indians killed one man at Boonesbor- 
ough, and wounded one. 

"April 8. — Stoner arrived with news from the set- 
tlement [east of the mountains] . 

"April 16. — Doran Brown and company arrived 
from the Cumberland river. 



58 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"April 19. — John Todd and Richard Callaway 
elected burgesses. James Berry married to widow 
Wilson."* 

While over the mountains as a delegate to the Vir- 
ginia Convention the year previous, Clark made him- 
self well acc[uainted with the contents of the letter 
captured in 1775, written by Connolly to Captain Lord 
at Kaskaskia.f The information thus obtained was 
not lost upon him. Besides, it is highly probable that 
while he was at Pittsburg, on his return with his com- 
panion Jones to Kentucky, he had a conference with 
George INIorgan concerning the feasibility of attack- 
ing the British posts to the northwestward and west- 
ward ; and that Morgan laid before him his plan for 
that purpose so far as the Illinois towns were con- 
cerned, informing him also of his endeavors just be- 
fore to obtain information of affairs there. It is not 
at all surprising, therefore, that, while floating down 
the Ohio with his cargo of powder, he should have 
''brooded over the conquest of the land to the north of 
that river." % Nor is it a matter of wonder that, in 
Harrodsburg, in the Spring following, we find him, 
notwithstanding his onerous duties in defending the 
settlements, pondering over, so far as he understood 
it, the true condition of the British posts on the fron- 
tiers, which, "since the beginning of the war," he had 
taken pains to make himself acquainted with. 

* Clarke's Diary — Morehead's Address, p. 162. Com- 
pare Collins's Kentucky (ed. of 1877) , p. 615. 

t Botta's istory of the War of Independence, vol. I, 
p. 250. 

J Bancroft's History of the United States (ed. of 1885), 
vol. V, p. 310. "While floating down the Ohio in 1776, 
being then twenty-four years of age, , he [Clark] conceived 
the conquest of the country beyond [that is, northwest of] 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 59 



In his reflections upon the condition of the various 
British posts northwest of the Ohio, Major Clark had 
his attenion particularly called to Vincennes. This 
was the nearest white settlement held by the British; 
and it was his belief that numerous war parties were 
there fitted out to go against the Americans. This 
erroneous idea was the result of his knowing noth- 
ing of the state of affairs there, and of his ignorance 
of the temper of the Indians of the Wabash valley 
generally. While many of these savages expressed 
their interest in the new order of things, the war 
hatchet sent by Hamilton was not accepted by any of 
the nations on that river during the year 1777. 

Clark soon made up his mind that the proximity 
of the hostile nations of the Wabash valley (for, as we 
have seen, he was fully persuaded of their evil intent 
against the Kentucky settlements) would make any 
u;idertaking against Vincennes extra hazardous. So 
he banished all thought concerning that town from his 
mind, giving his attention now to the Illinois. Evi- 
dently, from what knowledge he had previously ob- 
tained it seemed to him that that country might be 
successfully invaded by the Americans ; and he would 
know more of the condition of things there, if possi- 
ble; so, on the twentieth of April he "sent express 
to the Illinois" (as he says in his diary), two young 
men of the militia of Harrodsburg— Benjamin Linn 
and Samuel Moore, who went by canoe down the 
Cumberland* probably to avoid the Indians. They 

the river." — Hinsdale's The Old Northwest, p. 153. But 
it is certain he laid no plans then and there to effect that 
conquest. 

* Collins's Kentucky (ed. of 1877) , p. 615. 



60 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

returned on the twenty-second of June,* giving Clark 
late and valuable information. f 

The Major was told by the two "spies," that the 
people of the Illinois had but little expectation of a 
visit from Americans, but that things were kept in 
good order ; the militia trained that they might, should 
they be attacked, be prepared, ''that the greatest pains 
were taken to inflame the minds of the French inhab- 
itants against the Americans;" nevertheless, the two 
visitors discovered traces of aiifection for them in some 
of the inhabitants. They also reported that the In- 
dians in that quarter were engaged in the war;J but 
this declaration could not have applied to such as were 
strictly Illinois savages: these had not taken up the 
hatchet, as already shown. ' 

The situation at Kaskaskia and throughout the 
British Illinois, it is evident, had been intelligently ob- 
served by Linn and Moore; but there were several 
items of information communicated by them to Clark 
which the latter does not mention in his Memoir, but 
which, nevertheless, became subsequently of great im- 
portance to him. He was told, of course, that Roche- 
blave commanded there ; that there were "many pieces 
of cannon" in Fort Gage, with considerable amount of 
military stores, and that the fort was occupied "by 

* Clark makes these entries in his Diary as to Linn and 
Moore : "April 20. — Ben. Linn and Samuel Moore went 
express to the Illinois." .... 

"June 22. — Ben. Linn and Samuel Moore arrived from 
the Illinois." (See Morehead's Address, p. 162.) 

t Appendix to our narrative, Note XIII. 

I Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
118, 119. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 61 

a very weak garrison."'^ Now, the two "spies" also re- 
ported the good intentions of Rocheblave's neighbors 

— the Spaniards — toward the Americans, which 
Clark forgot to mention in his list, as also that the 
Illinois commandant kept a close watch upon the Mis- 
sissippi below, and also for some distance above the 
mouth of the Ohio.f But it is certain that the two 
men did not visit Vincennes on their trip, either in 
going to Kaskaskia, or on their return from that post. 
It is clear from all the evidence extant that Clark be- 
came more and more impressed as the months wore 
away, with the feasibility of attacking the Illinois 
towns — that they might be captured with a compar- 
atively small force of Americans: it was an idea of 
his ; and there can be no doubt it was "locked up in his 
own bosom ;" but it was only an idea — no movement 

— no effort — no "overt act" — was there, on his part, 
towards carrying this idea into execution while at- 
tending to his duties as major in the Kentucky set- 
tlements, unless, indeed, the sending of Linn and 
Moore to the Illinois be considered such. 

A Kentucky writer makes this showing as to Clark 
being thoroughly awakened to the necessity of con- 
quering the posts in possession of the British beyond 
the Ohio: 

"He [Clark] had, as an adventurer, visited Ken- 
tucky in 1775. As her delegate, he had claimed her 

* Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. I, pp. 584, 585. At the 
very time of the departure of the two "spies" from the 
Illinois, as we have already seen, Rocbeblave sent some of 
the cannon to Vincennes — leaving Fort Gage, June 2 (Roche- 
blave to Abbott, June 1, 1777: Haldimand MSS. 

t But, in other parts of his Memoir, Clark discloses the 
fact that he had been put in possession of the two last items of 
information mentioned above. 



62 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

recognition by the authorities of the parent State in 
1776 — through his agency her institutions were es- 
tabHshed. He had returned to the frontier to partic- 
ipate in the struggles of the feeble stations for exist- 
ence. The British government was then in posses- 
sion of the military posts of Detroit, Vincennes and 
Kaskaskia, and diffused an influence among the north- 
western Indian tribes, which, if properly directed, 
might have operated most prejudicially to the Amer- 
ican cause. With characteristic forecast, Clark per- 
ceived that, to these sources of influence, were mainly 
attributed the habitually inflamed passions and unre- 
mitted depredations of those savages, and especially 
the determined and systematic onsets which, through- 
out the year 1777, were made on the frontier stations. 
The reduction of these posts became, therefore, in his 
estimation, a cardinal object of his policy. He be- 
lieved that upon their destruction the fate of the set- 
tlements depended. He had moreover become ap- 
prised that a plan had been conceived by the Gov- 
ernor of Vincennes to be carried into execution on 
the return of Spring, to combine a large British and 
Indian force for offensive operations against Kentucky, 
the consequences of which, if successful, years of per- 
severing effort might not retrieve.""^' 

The unfairness, in this statement, of giving Clark 
(the writer not once mentioning Jones) all the credit 
for establishing Kentucky's institutions, is evident. 
As to "systematic onsets" being made in 1777 by the 
savages on the Kentucky settlements — they were 
generally very far from it. Neither did the reduction 
of the British military posts beyond the Ohio, be- 

* Morehead's Address, p. 60. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



come in Clark's estimation, a cardinal object of policy, 
nor did he believe that upon their destruction de- 
pended the fate of the settlements. There is no evi- 
dence of a contemporaneous character that Clark had 
been apprised of a combined movement from Vin- 
cennes ; but, if he had really been so informed, it was 
a false report. 

Fully to make plain the labor and responsibility 
resting upon Clark (finally shared by Colonel Bow- 
man), it is necessary to record the principal events 
occurring during the spring and summer, in the set- 
tlements. Notwithstanding the fort at Harrodsburg, 
on the thirteenth of January,* had been strengthened 
by the refugees from McClelland's fort, it was attacked 
(or working-parties or others near it were) by hostile 
Shawanese three times during the month of March; 
also once in April, once in May, again in June, once 
in August, and still another time in September.f But 
none of these assauUs can be considered, in any light, 
as regular sieges.J In the last, if tradition is to be 
realized upon, Clark was hotly engaged with the sav- 
ages and killed one of their number.§ 

Boonsborough, on the twenty-fourth of April was 
attacked by a considerable number of Indians, but be- 
ing destitute of artillery and scaling ladders, they 
could effect but little. Some of the settlers, however, 
were killed and the corn and cattle in the vicinity^ par- 
tially destroyed ; but the savages met with so spirited 
a resistance as to co mpel them to retire with precip- 

* Clark's Diary — Morehead's Address, p. 162. 
t Id., pp. 162, 163. (See as to many particulars, Collins's 
Kentucky (ed. of 1877), pp. 610-613.) 
tSee Appendix, Note XIV. 
§ Butler's Kentucky, p. 44 



64 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

itation. The Indians made their appearance again on 
the twenty-third of May. Of this visit, Clark wrote : 
*'A large party of Indians attacked Boonesborough 
fort ; kept a warm fire until 1 1 o'clock at night ; began 
it next morning and kept a hot fire until midnight, at- 
tempting several times to burn the fort; three of our 
men were wounded — not mortally ; the enemy suf- 
fered considerably."* This nearest resembles a siege 
as carried on by civilized armies of any of the efforts 
of the savages against the stations during the year. 

In June, a small party of Indians was pursued 
from the fort to the Ohio river, and one of their num- 
ber killed.f 

Logan's fort was assailed by Indians on the thir- 
tieth of May. They killed and scalped William 
Hudson and wounded Burr Harrison and John Ken- 
nedy. Harrison died on the thirteenth of June. 
But the fort was beset by the savages only on the day 
first mentioned. J 

In attending to his duties as major of the Ken- 
tucky militia, Clark was constantly engaged until near 
the close of September, the principal direction of af- 
fairs having devolved upon him until the arrival, on 
the first of August, at Boonesborough, of County- 
Lieutenant John Bowman, who finally reached Har- 
rodsburg, as before stated on the second of September. 

* Clark's Z?iar3> — Morehead's Address p. 162. 

tCollins's Kentucky (ed. of 1882), vol. II, p. 528. 

t Clark's Diary — Morehead's Address, p. 162. It was 
no siege, in the strict sense of the word, western historical 
accounts to the contrary, notwithstanding. (See Appendix 
to our narrative, Notes XIV and XV.) Some of the dates^ 
in Boone's Narrative (written by Filson) differ from those 
given in Clark's Diary; but the latter authority is the most 
reliable. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 65 

Towards the middle of September, it began to look 
as if there would soon be an end to all settlements in 
the new Virginia county. Savage incursions, it was 
plainly to be seen, were on the increase. It had al- 
ready become evident that war-parties of Indians were 
being fitted out by Hamilton at Detroit and sent 
against the Kentucky stations. His proclamation, of 
the month of June, mention of which has previously 
been made, was found upon a borderer who had been 
killed and scalped, placed there so as to be seen by the 
settlers who might discover the body,* 

"Commencing," says a Kentucky author, "with the 
date of his (Clark's) return from Virginia to- 
ward the close of the year 1776 [with his asso- 
ciate, Jones], he embodied in -a journal some hasty 
memoranda of the principal occurrences of the year 
1777, and the venerable relic has been kindly placed 
into my hands. The information communicated by 
it justifies me in repeating that the year 1777 was 
one of severe trial to the emigrants. Scarcely a 
day elapsed without bringing with it an attack 
on some one of the stations, or a skirmish with 
the savages, or the surprise of a hunting party — sel- 
dom unaccompanied with loss of lives. Boonesbor- 

* "During 1777, the war bands organized at Dtetroit 
were sent against the country round Pittsburg; while the 
feeble forts in the far western wilderness [Kentucky] , were 
only troubled by smaller war parties raised among the tribes 
on their own account." (Roosevelt — The Winning of the 
West, vol. 11, p. 11.) But it is certain that some of Ham- 
ilton's war parties of 1777, went against Kentucky as well 
as against the Virginia borderers farther up the Ohio and 
the Pennsylvania frontier settlements. (Compare, in this 
connection, Farmer's History of Detroit and Michigan, p. 249. 

5 



66 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

ough, Harrodsburg and Logan's fort — the three 
prominent settlements — were successively besieged 
with great obstinacy. During a period of more than 
six weeks, the Indians seem never for a moment to 
have abandoned the country. They hovered around 
the stations — haunted the traces that led to them — 
skulked through the forests — concealed themselves in 
canebrakes — always ready to .avail themselves of 
whatever advantages might occur. Yet the whole ef- 
fective military force of the settlers consisted at this 
time of about one hundred men : Boonesborough 
contained twenty-two ; Harrodsburg, sixty-five ; Lo- 
gan's fort, fifteen."* 

But this account, strictly speaking, is overdrawn m 
one particular : neither of the stations mentioned were, 
as we have before stated, besieged ; although, as al- 
ready shown, they several times suffered attacks — the 
latter not being in any sense sieges as carried on by 
civilized armies. 

Additional conclusions may also be drawn from 
Clark's diary as to his career while in command of the 
Kentucky militia. It does not appear (and it is prob- 
ably not the fact) that he engaged personally in many 
of the conflicts with the savages ; his position did not 
require it ; besides, as he had the general direction of 
affairs so far as the militia was concerned, in the ab- 
sence of Col. Bowman, the county lieutenant, not yet 
arrived at Harrodsburg, it would have been out of 
place for him to have constantly risked his life. His 
activity was great, however, not only in directing par- 
ties against the savages, but as we have before said 
in sending expresses to various parts. Doubtless the 

* Morehead's Address, p. 58. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 67 

one sent to Fort Pitt was for ammunition, as it was 
supposed by him that a Virginian still commanded 
there, he not knowing of the arrival of General Hand, 
a Continental officer. As to one matter, tradition is 
undoubtedly to be relied upon — that he enjoyed the 
full confidence of the settlers and was highly esteemed 
for his display of good judgment in the direction of 
military affairs. By no means, however, was he a 
hero — an idol — of the borderers, as enthusiastic and 
credulous writers concerning his efforts during the 
year 1777 in Kentucky, persistently declare. He 
acted thoughtfully, discreetly, gallantly, but not more 
heroically than others who fought in defense of the 
settlements.* 

And now, caused by the arrival, on the thirteenth 
of September, of a company of forty-eight militia 
from the east at Boonesborough, bringing intelligence 
that one hundred and fifty more were on the way, 
there began to be a return of confidence among the 
borderers and a feeling of greater security in the set- 
tlements, increased materially by the appearance of 
Captain John Montgomery with thirty-eight militia at 
Logan's fort on the second of October, and of Captain 
Charles G. Watkins with fifty at Boonesborough a 
few days thereafter. Meanwhile, however, a militia 
company that had been sometime in the settlements 
started on their return home.f Thence forward to 

* See Appendix, Note XVI, of this narrative. 

t Clark's Diary — Morehead's Address, p. 163. "In 
October Clark, in his Diary, records meeting fifty men with 
their families, (therefrom permanent settlers), on their way 
to Boon [Boonesborough] , and thirty-eight men on their way 
to Logan's." (Roosevelt — The Winning of the West, vol. 
II, p. 18n.) But that writer wholly misconstrues Clark's 
entries. 



y 



68 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

the end of the year the appearance of savage war par- 
ties was less frequent, and the few stations had 
strengthened. 

Sometime during the summer Clark had determined 
to leave the Kentucky settlements. He had, as he de- 
clares, just reasons known to few but himself that oc- 
casioned him to resolve not to have any farther com- 
mand whatever, unless he should find a very great call 
for troops and his country in danger. In that event, he 
was determined to give his life rather than the cause 
should be lost. To carry out his newly-conceived 
plans, whatever they were, he would first go to Wil- 
liamsburg and settle his accounts with the State as an 
officer of the militia of Kentucky county; and he 
would go before winter set in. What plans he had 
formulated in his mind for the future is not known. 
It is certain, however, that they had no reference to 
his holding any military office.* 

Having arranged all matters in which he was in- 
terested, both of a public and private nature, Clark, 

* Clark to George Mason, of Gimston Hall, Virginia, 
from "Louisville, Falls of the Ohio, Nov'r 19, 1779." See 
Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, (Cincinnati: Robert Clark 
& Co., 1869), pp. 21-23. I have not hesitated to follow this 
letter (written, as it was, so soon after the events which 
it describes and to one to whom he would most likely write 
with great care) with the greatest confidence in its truth- 
fulness. It contains but very few errors and these only 
slips of the memory, or of his pen, with here and there slight 
exaggerations of facts. It is by far the most important of all 
the American documents extant bearing upon our narrative. 
It was written by Clark when at his best, and was wholly 
unknown to early writers of Western history. (See Appendix 
to our narrative, Note XVII.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 69 

on the first day of October,* set out on horseback^f 
from Harrodsburg, on his journey to Wilhamsburg by 
way of the Wilderness Road, intending, after reaching 
the settlements, to stop at his old home to visit his par- 
ents and go thence to the Virginia capital. He started 
with a company of twenty-two men; all would have 
been on the way two days previous but for the fact of 
their horses having been lost in the woods. Clark 
was leaving Kentucky not intending to return, as his 
own statement clearly shows : "After disengaging 
myself from Kentucky, I set out for Williamsburg."J 
He celebrated the initiatory proceedings of bidding 
farewell to the West by "swapping" horses. The 
bold pioneers of the day had, many of them, a passion 
for horse-trading, from which, it seems from his own 
record, Clark himself was not exempt. § 

On the third of October, there was a large addition 
to Clark's company — of men, women and children 
returning to their former homes, discouraged by the 
hardships they had encountered and particularly dis- 
heartened because of savage aggressions. On the 
Wilderness Road, they made slow progress, averag- 

* By a slip of his memory, Clark in his letter to Mason 
of Nov. 19, 1779, gives the date as "in August, 1777" (see 
Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 21) ; but he had previously 
written in his Diary the true date (compare Morehead's 
Address, p. 163). And this is repeated in his Memoir — 
Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859) , p. 119. 

t Lyman C. Draper, in Appleton's Cyclopedia of American 
Biography (art. "George Rogers Clark"), says the journey 
was made on foot. This is a palpable error. 

I Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 21. 

§ Clark's Z:>jar3; — Morehead's Address, p. 163. (See 
Appendix to our narrative, Note XVIII.) 



70 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

ing from fifteen to twenty miles a day only. For 
food, their dependence was mostly on beeves, which 
were driven along to be slaughtered as occasion might 
require. At Rockcastle river, a buffalo was killed and 
two at Cumberland ford. 

But we will let Clark himself give the particulars 
of his journey to the ''ford :" 

'Wednesday, Oct. i. — I start for the settlement [i. 
e., for Williamsburg] — 22 men; got to Logan's 20 
miles. 

"Oct. 2. — Capttain [John] Montgomery arrived at 
Logan's with 38 men, and says that Capt. [Charles 
G.] Watkins would be in, in a day or two. 

"Oct. 3. — Started on our journey ; Capt. Pawling 
and company likewise — 76 in all, besides women and 

children, and took beeves from Whitley, of G ; 

camped at Pettit's, 16 miles. 

"Oct. 4. — Rain in the morning; camped on 
Skagg's creek, 18 miles. 

"Oct. 5. — Early start; spies killed a buffalo; 
camped one-half mile from the Hazle Patch, 9 miles 
cross Rockcastle river ; 20 miles — all safe. 

"Oct. 6. — Early start ; camped on Laurel river ; 
marched 14 miles ; killed a beef. 

"Oct. 7. — Waited for Skaggs; — he not coming 
to us, we killed a few deer. 

"Oct. 8. — Skaggs came to us and went back for 
his skins. 

"Oct. 9. — Lost our beeves ; marched three miles ; 
crossed Laurel river and camped on the bank. 

"Oct. 10. — Early start ; camped on Richland creek, 
17 miles, where we met Capt. Charles G. Watkins on 
his march to Boone's with fifty men and [some] 
families ; scarce of food. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 71 

"Oct. II. — Marched to Cumberland ford, i8 miles; 
killed two buffaloes ; Indians about us."* 

But Clark was not yet out of the interminable 
woods. On the twelfth he makes this entry in his 
diary : ''Crossed the R. and C. mountains ; encamped 
in Powell's valley, 4 miles from the [Cumberland] 
Gap; in the whole 19 miles. On the thirteenth he 
writes: "Late start; got to Martin's, '18 miles. "f 

After getting fairly out of the wilderness, Clark no 
longer traveled with the returning emigrants, but left 
them on the sixteenth. Alone he pursued his journey 
until meeting "Captain Campbell," with whom, for a 
considerable distance, he kept company. He paid lit- 
tle regard to houses of entertainment, — "taverns," as 
they were called; "hotels" were unknown, — but "put 
up" at any settler's house which might be near when 
night came on. From Harrodsburg to his father's 
residence was six hundred and twenty miles, by the 
route he traveled. He was on the road a month be- 
fore reaching the paternal roof. He had brought a 
gun with, him but had no use for it, now that he was 
at his home; so he disposed of it for i 15. 

After one day's stay with his parents, he renewed 
his journey, reaching Williamsburg on the fifth of 
November. Upon his arrival, he "lodged at Ander- 
son's and had a confirmation of Burgoyne's sur- 
render." The next day he bought a ticket in the State 
lottery which cost him three pounds sterling. He 
then called upon the Auditors of State to settle his 
acocunts as to the Kentucky militia ; but, in doing this, 
he was detained from the seventh to the eighteenth. 

* Clark'^ Diary — Morehead's Address, p. 163. 
t Ibid. 



72 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The cause of the delay was this : When his pay rolls 
were laid before those officers, although they were 
properly authenticated, there were scruples in the 
minds of these functionaries as to the issuing of war- 
rants for payments of the militia, because, instead of 
being on actual duty, they had been "obliged, for their 
own personal safety, and the security of their wives 
and children, to keep themselves in forts, and remain 
on the defensive against parties of Indians continually 
infesting that country, too numerous to permit the in- 
habitants to return to their plantations." The Gov- 
ernor was appealed to decide the matter and he at once 
referred it to the House of Delegates,* — that body 
ordering their payment, amounting to £ 726.t 

Again Glark went to his father's home, which he 
reached on the twenty-second of November J — to 
make a long visit during the winter, shall we say? 
Thus to conclude would be natural enough, in view of 
his recent journey through the almost interminable 
woods of the West ; but his (as will presently be seen) 
was the spirit of unrest — of action — and there were 
plans revolving in his mind that would necessarily call 
him away; but "they were known only to a few." 
That they were not in any way appertaining to public 
affairs is all that is now to be learned of them. 

* Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. Ill, p. 116. (See Appen- 
dix to our narrative, Note XIX.) 

t Appendix, Note XX. 

X Id. There is no contemporaneous evidence — no de- 
claration of Clark himself given at the time — that, in thus 
returning to his father's house, it was "to get a glimpse 
of his people before again plunging into the wilds," on 
some daring expedition, as a recent writer informs his 
readers (see Roosevelt, in The Winning of the West, vol. 



CHAPTER V. 

SCARCELY two weeks had elapsed after Clark's 
leaving Williamsburg before he returned, to 
make arrangements concerning some business 
affairs wholly his own. "On my arrival in town," he 
says, "I found, to appearance, friends in many gentle- 
men of note, who offered their influence to me in case 
I should apply for any post. Many were surprised 
that I would not solicit for some berth. I must con- 
fess that I think myself often to blame for not making 
use of influence for my promotion, but to merit it first 
is such a fixed principle with me that I never could, 
and I hope never shall ask for a post of honor; as I 
think the public ought to be the best judge whether 
a person deserves it or not : if he does, he will certainly 
be rewarded according to the worth he has.""^ 

That Clark was not slow in learning the condition 
of affairs concerning' the war (so far as those best in- 
formed at the capital of the State understood it) there 
can be no doubt. ''Finding," says he, ''that we were 
in [an] alarming situation, the Indians desperate on 
one side, the Britains on the other, immediately re- 
solved to encourage an expedition to the Illinois. "f 

II, p. 36.) Such an inference can only be drawn from 
Clark's words written years subsequent to his return to his 
home and which are not entitled to any evidence. (See the 
following chapter.) 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 22. 

t Ibid. (See concerning Clark's erroneous statements 
made years subsequent to this as to his purpose in leaving 
Kentucky and as to the reasons why he made known his 
design against the Illinois, Appendix to our narrative, 
Note XXI.) 



74 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The resolve of Clark to suggest the propriety of 
an undertaking against the Illinois and to urge a 
speedy movement looking to its organization, was a 
determination of momentous import should the scheme 
meet with approval and the undertaking he crowned 
with success. But to make public the plan, would, in 
the judgment of the projector of it, be almost certain 
to defeat it, as word, doubtless, would reach the Illinois 
in time to enable the making there of a proper defense. 
Clark, therefore, very wisely confided his ideas, only 
''to a few gentlemen" whom he could trust, and they 
communicated them to Governor Henry.* "At first, 
he [the Governor] seemed to be fond of it," are the 
words of Clark's jMemoir, "but, to detach a party at so 
great a distance (although the service performed might 
be of great utility), appeared daring and hazardous. 
As nothing but secrecy could give success to the enter- 
prise, to lay the matter before the Assembly, then sit- 
ting, would be dangerous, as it soon would be known 
throughout the frontiers ; and probably the first pris- 
oner taken by the Indians would give the alarm, which 
would end in the certain destruction of the party. "f 

One of Clark's suggestions (according to his 
Memoir) that, in case of misfortune, there could be 
a retreat from the Illinois towns across the Mississippi 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 22. Three of the Virginia gentlemen spoken to by Clark 
were George W3^the, George Mason, and Thomas Jefferson. 

t Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
119. Dillon has evidently given the words a wrong punctu- 
ation, which impairs Clark's meaning; I have, therefore, 
changed the pointing somewhat, as otherwise,- the whole 
carries the idea that the scheme was not, in any manner, 
laid before the Assembly — which is error, as will hereafter 
be shown. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 75 

into the Spanish territory, seemed to those with whom 
he consulted as removing one of the principal objec- 
tions to the enterprise. "After giving/' says Clark, 
in his letter to Mason, "the Council all the intelligence 
I possibly could, I resolved to pursue my other plans. 
But, being desired by the Governor to stay some time 
in town [Williamsburg], I waited with impatience — 
he, I suppose, believing that I wanted the command 
and being determined to give it to me." 

Clark had proposed the expedition; he would be 
glad to see it set on foot ; but he did not desire to lead 
it : "it was far," he declares, "from my inclination at 
that time".* 

It was not long before the enterprise was deter- 
mined on, to be put in execution so soon as an act 
could be passed to enable the Governor to order it. 
Such a bill was accordingly introduced into the Legis- 
lature, vague enough not to arouse any suspicion of its 
real import, and it soon became a law, though but few 
of the members knew of its hidden meaning. It 
authorized the Governor, with the advice of the Privy 
Council, at anytime within nine months after its pass- 
age, to raise a number of volunteers not exceeding six 
hundred, to march against and attack any Western 
enemies — he to appoint the proper officers and give 
the necessary orders for the expedition. f 

After some time had elapsed, Clark was summoned 
to attend the Executive Council. The instructions and 
necessary papers were ready for putting in the name 
of the person who was to lead the expedition. Clark 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 23. 

t Hening's Virginia Statutes at Large, vol. IX, pp. 
374, 375. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note XXII.) 



76 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

fully believed it was expected by Governor Henry and 
his advisers, that he would apply for the position, but 
he resolved not to do so for reasons already given ; and 
he did not; thereupon he was informed that he had 
been appointed chief of the proposed ''little army." 
He finally accepted the command after being told it 
was designed for him ; and, as a consequence, he "got 
every request granted."* He was commissioned at 
the same time, a Lieutenant Colonel, that is, of Vir- 
ginia militia, not, however, being in any way restricted 
to Kentucky.f 

It was on the second of January, 1778, that final 
action was taken by the Governor and his Council as 
to the proposed expedition : ''Present, his Excellency, 
John Page, Dudley Diggs, John Blair, Nathaniel Har- 
rison and David Jameson, Esquires. 

"The Governor informed the Council that he had 
had some conversation with several gentlemen who 
were well acquainted with the western frontiers of 
Virginia and the situation of the post at Kaskaskia 
held by the British King's forces, where there are 
many pieces of cannon, and military stores to a con- 
siderable amount ; and that he was informed the place 
was at present held by a very weak garrison, which 
induced him to believe that an expedition against it 
might be carried on with success, but that he wished 
the advice of the Council on the occasion. 

"Whereupon they advised his Excellency to set on 
foot the expedition against Kaskaskia with as little 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 23. 

t Dr. Poole, in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History 
of America, vol. VI, p. 717, erroneously declares that 
"Clark received from Gov. Henry the rank of colonel." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 77 



delay and as much secrecy as possible, and for the pur- 
pose to issue his warrant upon the treasurer for twelve 
hundred pounds payable to Col. George Rogers Clark, 
who is willing to undertake the service, he giving bond 
and security faithfully to account for the same. And 
the Council further advised the Governor to draw up 
proper instructions for Colonel Clark."* 

Public and private instructions were, on the same 
day, drawn up : the first, for Clark to show the people, 
"written designedly for deception" ; the other, for the 
guidance of the Colonel. Those for the public eye 
notified Clark that he was to proceed, without loss of 
time, to enlist seven companies of men, officered in the 
usual manner, to act as militia, under his command. 
They were to proceed to Kentucky, and there obey 
such orders and directions as he should give them, "for 
three months after their arrival at that place;" but, 
they were to receive pay in case they remained on duty 
a longer time. The Colonel was empowered to^ raise 
these men in any county in Virginia; and the County 
Lieutenants, respectively, were "requested to give all 
possible assistance in that business.""}' 

Much more at length, and with considerable mi- 
nuteness, were the private Instructions given Clark. 
He was not only to proceed with all convenient speed 
to raise seven companies of soldiers to consist of fifty 
men each, officered in the usual manner and armed most 
properly for the enterprise,^ but, with this force, he 

* Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. I, pp. 584, 585. 

t Butler's Kentucky (ed. of 1834), p. 394. Clark's Cam- 
paign in the Illinois, p. 95. Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. I, 
p. 588. 

J Many writers (see particularly, Mann Butler — 
History of Kentucky, pp. 47, 48) have erroneously stated 



78 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

was to "attack the British post at Kaskaskia,"* in the 
lUinois. 

''It is conjectured," said the Governor, "that there 
are many pieces of cannon, and miUtary stores to a 
considerable amount, at that place, the taking and 
preservation of which would be a valuable acquisition 
to the State." "If you are so fortunate, therefore, as 
to succeed in your expedition," continues Henry, "you 
will take every possible measure to secure the artillery' 
and stores and whatever may advantage the State." 

To transport down the Ohio, the troops, provis- 
sions, and other supplies, Clark was to apply to the 
commanding officer at Fort Pitt, Pittsburgh, (General 
Hand), for boats. During the whole "transaction," 
the Colonel was to take especial care to keep "the true 
destination" of his force secret. Its success, the Gov- 
ernor declared, depended upon this. Clark was in- 
formed that orders had been issued to one who was to 
recruit for him and who would soon be in Kentucky, 
to secure the two men from Kaskaskia. These were, 
it is reasonably certain, the same men (Linn and 
Moore) who had been sent by Clark some months 
previous to "spy out" the Illinois, the information 

that Clark was to raise his force in the Western counties of 
Virginia, that is, west of the Blue Ridge, "so as not to 
weaken the Atlantic Defense ;" but there was no restriction 
laid upon him in this regard by the Governor, in his private 
instructions; and, in his public instructions, it is, as we 
have seen, especially stated, — "You are to raise these men 
in any county in the Commonwealth." 

* Not "the British forts of Vincennes and Kaskaskia 
[the italicising is mine]," as stated by Robert F. Coleman, 
in Harper's Magazine, vol. XXII, p. 789. And see, also, 
E. A. Bryan, in Magazine of American History, vol. XXI, 
p. 399, for a similar statement. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 79 

brought back by them having doubtless now been re- 
peated to the Virginia Executive. "Similar conduct," 
added the Governor, "will be proper in similar cases."* 

It was earnestly desired by Governor Henry, that 
Clark should show humanity to such British subjects 
and other persons as might fall into his hands. "If 
the white inhabitants at the post and the neighbor- 
hood," said the Executive, "will give undoubted evi- 
dence of their attachment to this State — for it is cer- 
tain they live within its limits — by taking the test 
[oath] prescribed by law, and by every other ways 
and means in their power, — let them be treated as 
fellow citizens and their persons and property duly 
secured. Assistance and protection against all enemies 
whatever shall be afforded them, and the Common- 
wealth of Virginia is pledged to accomplish it. But if 
these people will not accede to these reasonable de- 
mands, they must feel the miseries of war, under the 
direction of that humanity that has hitherto distin- 
guished Americans, and which it is expected you will 
ever consider as the rule of your conduct and ■ from 
which you are in no instance to depart." 

Clark was further instructed that the men he was 
to command were to receive the pay and allowance of 
militia, and to act under the laws and regulations of 
Virginia then in force as to that arm of the service.f 
He was required to inform the inhabitants of Kaskas- 
kia that, in case they acceded to the offers of becoming 
citizens of the State, a proper garrison would be main- 
tained among them and every attention bestowed "to 
render their commerce beneficial, the fairest prospects 

* See Appendix, Note XXIII. 

tThis made them defacto, as well as dejure, Virginia 
militia. 



80 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

being opened to the dominions of both France and 
Spain." 

*'It is in contemplation," the Governor also said, 
*'to establish a post near the mouth of Ohio. Cannon 
will be wanted to fortify it. Part of those at Kaskas- 
kia will be easily brought thither or otherwise secured 
as circumstances will make necessary." 

It is evident that the proposition to build a fort at 
the point indicated by Henry was for the purpose and 
desire of commanding both the Mississippi and the 
Ohio and of making a definite claim by Virginia to 
territory as far west as the river first mentioned. 
Theoretically, at least, it was a politic measure and 
seems to have been the conception of the Virginia 
governor ; certainly he was the first to make it public* 

The concluding words of the private Instructions 
furnished Clark were these : ''You are to apply to 
General Hand for powder and lead necessary for this 
expedition. If he cannot supply it, the person who 
has that which Captain [William] Linn brought from 
New Orleans can. Lead was sent to Hampshire by 
my orders and that may be delivered you".t 

* It was finally determined to put the plan in execution ; 
but whatever may have been the reasons for the subsequent 
carrying out of Governor Henry's idea as to the fortification, 
by Jefferson as his successor, it is clear that its inception was 
to further the purposes and desires of Virginia only, as above 
mentioned. Clark's idea as afterward expressed was, that 
by the erection of "a strong fortification there [near the 
mouth of the Ohio] , it would immediately be the mart and 
key of the Western country." 

t Coleman, in Harper's Magazine, vol. XXII, p. 789, 
says the officer at Fort Pitt was "directed to give him 
[Clark] every assistance in procuring stores and boats." 
But Gen. Hand (a Continental officer) was not "directed" 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 81 

Both instructions were dated the second of Janu- 
ary, and both were signed by Governor Henry. In 
those not intended for the public to see, there is much, 
so far as the exhibition of humanity is concerned, to 
commend on part of the Virginia executive. His 
words are in striking contrast, in this regard, with the 
cruel mandate, already mentioned, of Germain to Carle- 
ton ''that the most vigorous efforts should be made 
and every means employed that Providence has put 
into his Majesty's hands, for crushing the rebellion," 
referring, particularly, to the employment of savages 
against the frontier settlements.* 

Verbal instructions were also given Clark which 
would materially extend any plans of conquest (if 
fortune favored him in his attempt against Kaskaskia) 
he might be disposed to enter upon. "I was ordered," 
he says, "to attack the Illinois [and] in case of success 
to carry my arms to any quarter I pleased". f 

to give any assistance; he was, simply, to be applied to — 
that is, requested — to furnish "powder and lead necessary 
for the expedition." 

*Both the Pulbic and Private Instructions are printed 
entire in Butler's Kentucky (ed. of 1834), pp. 394, 395; in 
Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 95-97; and in Henry's 
Patrick Henry, vol. I, pp. 585, 586 and 588. In Monnette's 
History of the Valley of the Mississippi, vol. I, p. 415n, 
the Private Instructions may also be found. As given in 
Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, they contain two or three 
verbal mistakes. (See Appendix to our narrative. Note 
XXIV.) 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 23. But in his Memoir Clark carries the idea that Vin- 
cennes was particularly an object of attack by him — that 
he had thoughts of assailing it first; but this is clearly error, 
another lapse in his memory. (See Appendix, Note XXV.) 

6 



82 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

An instrument of writing was drawn up, signed 
and delivered to Clark, wherein three of the gentlemen 
who were aiding the expedition (Wythe, Mason and 
Jefferson) promised to use their influence to procure 
from the Virginia Assembly three hundred acres of 
land for each one who enlisted, in case of the success 
of the expedition."^' 

Clark, now that he was really engaged in the enter- 
prise, was as determined to prosecute it with vigor 
as he had been bef-ere indifferent about the command. 
"I had," he subsequently declared, ''since the begin- 
ning of the war, taken pains to make myself acquainted 
with the true situation of the British posts on the fron- 
tiers; and I since find I was not mistaken in my judg- 
ment." "I was ordered," he adds, "to attack the 
Illinois ; in case of success, to carry my arms to any 
quarter I pleased." This latitude, it seems was granted 
him in verbal Instructions ; there was no such authority 
given him in the written ones. "I was certain," he 
continues, "that, with five hundred men, I could take 
the Illinois ; and, by my treating the inhabitants as 
fellow citizens and showing them that I meant to pro- 
tect rather than treat them as a conquered people, 
and by my engaging the Indians to our interest, it 
might probably have so great an effect on their coun- 
trymen at Detroit (they already disliked their master) 
that it would be an easy prey for me. I should have 
mentioned my design to his Excellency, but was con- 
vinced or afraid that it might lessen his esteem for 
me: as it was a general opinion that it would take 

* The writing was dated January 3d, 1778, and signed 
by George Wythe, George Mason and Thomas Jefferson 
(Butler's Kentucky, p. 47). See Appendix (Note XXVI) 
to our narrative. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 83 

several thousand [men] to approach that place. I was 
happy with the thoughts of a fair prospect of unde- 
ceiving the public respecting their formidable enemies 
on our frontiers."^ It is evident that the goal of 
Clark's ambition was Detroit. He had, it is true, the 
welfare of the Kentucky settlements at heart and of 
those along the northwestern border of his State ; and 
so had Governor Henry: but, with both, there was 
something prompting them to action besides what 
might reasonably be expected concerning the effect on 
the Indians in case of the success of the expedition. 
Clark, as his own words show was ambitious as well 
as patriotic; and to capture Detroit from the British 
would not only end to a great extent savage marauds 
upon the Western border, but would prove a severe 
blow to the English generally. 

Governor Henry, subsequently, was explicit in giv- 
ing the principal cause actuating him in promoting the 
enterprise : 'The executive power of this State having 
been impressed with a strong apprehension of incur- 
sions on their frontier settlements from the savages 
situated about the Illinois, and supposing the danger 
would be greatly obviated by an enterprise against the 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 
23, 24. In his Memoir, Clark says that, finding from the 
Governor's conversation in general to him on the subject, 
he did not wish an implicit attention to his Instructions 
should prevent his executing anything that would manifestly 
tend to the good of the public, he felt himself clothed with 
all the authority he desired. [Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859) , 
p. 120.] The "general opinion" as to the force necessary to 
capture Detroit was, beyond all question, a sound one. 
Clark, really, had but little idea of the strength of that 
post; and it was even more formidable than Governor Henry 
was aware of. 



84 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

English forts and possessions in that country, which 
were well known to inspire the savages with their 
bloody purposes against us, sent a detachment of mili- 
tia .. . commanded by Colonel George Rogers 
Clark, on that service."* However, as a matter of 
fact, the savages of that region, as already explained, 
had not actually taken up the hatchet as allies of Great 
Britain, although they were, all of them, considered by 
Clark, from the knowledge he had obtained from that 
quarter, as being generally hostile. f 

Beyond the probability that success in the proposed 
expedition would in some measure put an end to the 
Indian war on the western frontiers of Pennsylvania 
and Virginia, Clark did not trouble himself greatly 
to look. It would not be surprising,^ surely, if he 
/ occasionally indulged in reflections as to what might 
^ be "the remote bearings of such an achievement." But 
Governor Henry was more outspoken in his anticipa- 
tions should the result be what was hoped for. He 

* Governor Henry to the Virginia Delegates in Congress, 
Nov. 10, 1778. See Butler's Kentucky (2d ed.), p. 532; 
also a Life of Patrick Henry (American Statesmen Series), 
by Moses Coit Tyler, pp. 230, 231. Consult, too, Henry's 
Patrick Henry, vol. II, p. 16 and vol. Ill, p. 200. But the 
Governor over-estimated the influence exerted there to induce 
savage aggressions on the frontiers. 

tin the sketch of the Life of Clark, in Collins's Kefir- 
tucky, (ed. of 1877, p. 135), it is said: "On their return 
[that is, on the return of the 'spies" which Clark sent to 
the Illinois] , they brought intelligence of great activity on 
part of the garrisons, who omitted no opportunity to pro- 
mote and encourage Indian depredations on the Kentucky 
frontier." But what they told Clark was, according to the 
latter's statement, simply, "that the Indians in that quarter 
were engaged in the war." [See Clark's Memoir — Dillon's 
Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 159.] 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 85 

~'~~ =» — . . 

having already in contemplation the securing of a firm 
foothold for Virginia (if not for the General Govern- 
ment) on the Misissippi below the mouth of the Ohio, 
as before alluded to, the capture of Kaskaskia would 
be a valuable aid in completing the undertaking.* 

And here it may be said that far too m^uch stress 
has heretofore been laid by writers of Western history 
upon the fact that Clark had given the subject of the 
British forts in the West considerable thought. More 
had evidently been given by George Morgan at Fort 
Pitt. And much more information had been obtained 
concerning them (Kaskaskia alone excepted) by the 
General Government than what had been gleaned by 
the inquisitive young Virginian. 

Governor Henry delivered to Colonel Clark, on the 
day they were written, both the public and private in- 
structions. Twelve hundred pounds, in accordance 
with the recommendation of his Council, were handed 
Clark by the Governor to be used in the enterprise, 
but the money was in depreciated Virginia currency ;f 
and Henry, also, authorized him to draw on Oliver 

"^ Several writers of Western history, by mistaking the 
date and import of a letter written by Jefferson to Clark 
(only a fragment of which has been preserved) , conchide that 
that statesman put himself early on record as forseeing what 
might be the consequences resulting from the favorable issue 
of the proposed campaign — "the remote bearings" being 
much plainer to his vision than to Clark's. This matter is 
more fully discussed in a subsequent chapter. 

t C. C. Baldwin's A Centennial Lawsuit, in The Western 
Reserve and Northern Ohio Historical Society's Tract, No. 
35, December, 1876; reprinted in the Magazine of Western 
History, January, 1885, p. 230. "The governor [Henry] 
. . . gave the young captain a small supply of money.'' 
{The Old Northwest (Hinsdale), p. 154.] But it is certain 
Clark was not commissioned captain. 



86 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Pollock, Virginia's fiscal agent in New Orleans, for 
additional funds to aid him in his undertaking, at the 
same time writing Pollock to draw bills on France for 
$65,000.* The Colonel was given, likewise, a written 
request, directed to General Hand at Fort Pitt, ask- 
ing him, if he could, to furnish Clark with the necessary 
quantity of powder and lead.f 

It was on the fourth of January that the Colonel 
left Williamsburg,:|: going alone to his point of destin- 
ation on the frontier. We now see him, for the first 
time, in a position to develop some of the prominent 
traits of his character. He at once gave evidence of 
those qualities of mind fitting him to direct and lead a 
military expedition made up of men who were all 
sharp-shooters and accustomed to hardships. He knew 
little or nothing of the laws of war or of military 
tactics. Two peculiarities he, however, very soon 
showed himself to be possessed of in a marked degree: 
celerity in movement and firmness in carrying out de- 
terminations once fixed upon. He made "as quick 

* Compare Magazine of American History, vol. XXII, 
pp. 415, 416 and Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. I, pp. 603-605. 

t In his Memoir Clark erroneously states that Governor 
Henry gave him "an order on Pittsburg, for boats, ammu- 
nition, etc." 

J Clark's Memoir —~T>\\\on's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 120. 
In his letter to Mason, Clark incorrectly gives the 18th as the 
day of his leaving {Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 24). 
That he started previous to the date last mentioned is proven 
by Instructions delivered to David Rogers on the 15th of 
January by Governor Henry and by a letter written the 
same day to Clark (Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. I, pp. 606, 
607; Butler's Kentucky, pp. 102, 103). Besides, as will 
presently be seen, he could not have accomplished before 
the end of the month what he did had he left Williamsburg 
as late as the 18th. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. ^7 

dispatch as possible to the frontiers ;" that is, to Red- 
stone (now Brownsville, Pennsylvania) on the Mo- 
nongahela, the rendezvous agreed upon, then in Vir- 
ginia as claimed by that State, but subsequently con- 
firmed to Pennsylvania; which Commonwealth was 
then strenously contending for all that region; and, 
by the end of the month, he had recruiting-parties 
located "from Pittsburgh to [North] Carolina," ready 
to work under the public instructions issued by the 
Governor."^ For this service, Captain William Harod 
and a number of other officers were appointed. f 
Clark also contracted for flour and other stores wanted 
— except powder and lead. 

Captain Leonard Helm of Fauquier county and 
Captain Joseph Bowman of Frederick county, were to 
raise each a company to be marched to Redstone, 
where they were to join Clark at a stipulated day in 
February. The Colonel had advanced to Captain 
William B. Smith, one hundred and fifty pounds to 
recruit four companies on Holston, which force was 
to meet him in Kentucky. J 

Now however, trouble arose. "Many leading men 
in the frontiers," says the Colonel, "had liked to have 

* Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, loc. cit. It was no 
thought of Clark, in fixing at Redstone the point where he 
was to collect his force, that he was locating his head- 
quarters upon Pennsylvania territory. He still called the 
region now constituting Southwestern Pennsylvania and a 
part of West Virginia, "The District of West Augusta, 
Virginia," — not even recognizing the fact that his State 
had previously (in 1776) formed it into the three counties 
of Gohogania, Monongalia, and Ohio. He 'believed that Fort 
Pitt and Pittsburgh were within Virginia's jurisdiction. 

t See Appendix, Note XXVH. 

tid. 



88 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

put an end to the enterprise, not knowing my destina- 
tion".* It was not apparent to many that there was a 
great necessity for such an undertaking as suggested 
in Clark's pubhc Instructions ; for these were only the 
four infant settlements down the Ohio (as they 
understood it) to be guarded, while a far greater num- 
ber upon its upper waters needed equal protection.f 
"I received information from Captain Helm," are 
likewise the words of Clark, ''that several gentlemen 
took pains to counteract his interest in recruiting, as 
no such service was known of by the Assembly. Con- 
sequently, he had to send to the Governor to get his 
conduct ratified. I found, also, opposition to our in- 
terest in the Pittsburgh country. As the whole [popu- 
lation] was divided into violent parties between the 
Virginians and Pennsylvanians respecting the territory, 
the idea of men being raised for the State of Vir- 
ginia affected the vulgar of the one [that is, of the 
Pennsylvania] party ; and as my real Instructions were 
kept concealed and only an instrument from the Gov- 
ernor written designedly for deception was made pub- 
lic wherein I was authorized [inferentially] to raise 
men for the defence of Kentucky, many gentlemen of 
both parties conceived it to be injurious to the public 
interest to draw off men at so critical a moment for 
the defence of a few detached inhabitants, who had 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
24. That is to say, "not knowing 'his real' destination." 

t Clark's Public Instructions, as they knew, showed 
clearly that the men when enlisted were to proceed to 
Kentucky and there obey such orders and directions as he 
should give them for three months after their arrival; the 
inference being that protection of the Kentucky settlements 
was the object of the expedition. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 89 

better be removed. These circumstances caused some 
confusion in the recruiting service".* 

In view of his pubHc instructions, it was certainly 
uncharitable for the Colonel to declare, as he did 
afterward, that "through a spirit of obstinacy many 
leading men combined and did every thing that lay in 
their power to stop those that had enlisted, and set the 
whole frontiers in an uproar; even condescending to 
harbor and protect those that deserted." f 

The disgusted commander concluded his "case" was 
"desperate." The longer he remained the worse it 
became. "I plainly saw," he subsequently wrote, "that 
my principal design was baffled. I was resolved to 
push to Kentucky with what men I could gather in 
West Augusta." :|: 

The Colonel had been joined by Captains Bowman 
and Helm, "who had each raised a company for the 
expedition ;" but two-thirds of their men were induced 
to leave by "the undesigned enemies to the country," 
as Clark styles those who opposed his expedition. § 
The officers only secured such as had friends in Ken- 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
120, That some Pennsylvanians enlisted there can be no 
doubt. (See also Appendix to our narrative, Note XXVIII.) 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 24. 

J Id., p. 25. Clark still adhered to the name of "West 
Augusta," for the region claimed by Virginia, including the 
then recently erected counties of Yohogania, Monongalia and 
Ohio. 

§ Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
25. Bancroft, in his History of the United States (ed. of 
1885), vol. V, p. 310, says: "There [at Redstone] . . . 
he [Clark] was overtaken by Captain Leonard Helm of 
Farquier, and by Captain Joseph Bowman of Frederic, each 



90 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

tucky or such as were induced to enlist because of 
private interests or a desire to see the West.* 

On the twelfth of May, Clark embarked at Red- 
stone for the Falls of the Ohio,t with about one hun- 
dred and fifty men, formed into three companies, 
under command of Captains Bowman, Helm and 
Harrod.lj: With Clark went a number of families 
(but they accompanied the Colonel much against his 
will), in all twenty — "following in his train" — who 
contemplated settling in Kentucky. § 

Before the departure of Clark, he had received 
word from Captain Smith *'on Holston" (it was on the 
twenty-ninth of March), informing him that he in- 
tended to meet him at the Falls with near two hundred 
men. Another express — one from down the Ohio — 
gave him the intelligence that the Kentucky settle- 

with less than half a company." In this, the word "over- 
taken" conveys an impression (which is erroneous) that 
Clark was then on the move. 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
121. 

t Appendix, Note XXIX. 

^Appendix Note XXX. 

§ Appendix, Note XXXI. Some writers have stated that 
Clark floated down the Ohio in a flat-boat, and that in this 
single boat went all his force and effects, including the 
families who joined him at Redstone. (See an article in the 
Louisville Courier-Journal, Aug. 2d, 1883^ by R. T. Durrett.) 
Evidently this is error. That the Colonel had supplied him- 
self with, and actually went down the river in row-boats 
is sufficiently certain. "You are," says Gov. Henry to Clark 
in his private instructions, "to apply to the commanding 
officer at Fort Pitt for boats, etc." The italicising is mine.) 
See Appendix to our narrative^ Notes XXXII and XXXVI, 
also the two following Chapters (VI and VII), as to Clark 
having row-boats. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 91 

ments had gained considerable strength since he left 
that quarter. Such news had the effect to raise the 
drooping spirits of the Colonel ; as, with Smith's prom- 
ised reinforcements, he had no doubt of being able to 
successfully accomplish the object of his undertak- 
ing. 

On his reaching Pittsburgh, Clark found in the 
Fort Pitt commander (General Hand) a warm friend 
to the enterprise. He declares that the General was 
not only pleased with his intentions but furnished him 
with all the necessaries he wanted. "Taking in my 
stores at Pittsburgh and Wheeling," Clark subse- 
quently wrote, "I proceeded down the river with cau- 
tion." But the "stores" at Wheeling, taken in by the 
Colonel upon his arrival there, were included in the 
supply furnished by General Hand.* 

Leaving the Colonel afloat on the Ohio below 
Wheeling with his three companies of recruits and 
their officers — acting as convoy to several families of 
emigrants, we will turn our attention to the Kentucky 
country whither they were bound (as all supposed but 
the commandant), to remain, some permanently, but 
the larger part only for a three-months' service. 

Although Clark had received encouraging reports 
from the Kentucky settlements, indicating that he 
might be able, owing to the increase in their popula- 
tion, to obtain a considerable number of recruits there, 
yet, the year 1778 had really opened with prospects 
not at all cheering to them. On the first day of Janu- 
ary Daniel Boone went with a party of thirty to the 
Blue Licks on Licking river, to m.ake salt for several 
different garrisons from which his men had been 
collected. That necessary commodity had always 

* Appendix, Note XXXII. 



92 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

been brought into the settlements at much trouble and 
expense. On the seventh of the following month, 
having previously sent back three of his men with salt, 
Boone, while out hunting to procure meat for his com- 
pany, met one hundred and two Indians, principally 
Shawanese (eighty of that nation and twenty-two 
Miamis), led by Charles Beaubien and Pierre Lorimer 
from the Miami town at the head of the Maumee, the 
white men with their Miami Indians having gone first 
to Piqua and Chillicothe where they gathered the 
Shawanese, — the whole force being on the march 
against Boonesborough, "that place being particularly 
the object of the enemy." 

Beaubien and his party pursued and took Boone, 
and brought him, on the eighth, to the Licks. As they 
approached the place, Boone realizing how impossible 
it would be for his twenty-seven men to escape with 
their lives if attacked, called out to them, when some 
distance away but in full view, informing them of 
their situation and ordering them not to resist but to 
surrender themselves prisoners ; with which command, 
they at once complied. Fortunately, the two French- 
men could not prevail upon the Indians to attempt 
Boonesborough; w^hich, doubtless (so thought the two 
white men) might have easily been taken ''by means 
of their prisoners." The savages were satisfied with 
what they had already accomplished.* 

Boone and his men were taken, first to "Old Chilli- 
cothe, the principal Indian town on Little Miami," in 
what is now Greene county, Ohio ;t thence they took 
him and ten of his men to Detroit, where they arrived 

* Appendix, Note XXXIII. 

tSee, as to this "Old Chillicothe," the History of the 
Girtys, p. 76. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 93 

on the thirtieth of March, — except four, who did not 
reach that post until two days thereafter.* The party 
left Chillicothe on the tenth. 

Hamilton received Boone kindly and proceeded to 
examine him as to affairs in the settlements soutli of 
the Ohio. His prisoner was very communicative, but 
he exaggerated matters. He told the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor that the people had been i'ncessantly harrassed 
by parties of Indians, which was true, but he added, 
they had not been able to sow grain and would not 
have a morsel of bread by the middle of June, which 
was an exaggeration. Clothing, he said, was not to 
be had, and they did not expect relief from Congress. 
He thus unwittingly inspired Hamilton with confidence 
that his barbarous policy was producing the desired 
effect, inducing him to greater exertion against the 
border settlements of the Americans. "Their di- 
lemna," he wrote, "will probably induce them to trust 
to the savages, who have shown so much humanity to 
their prisoners; and they will come to this place be- 
fore winter." 

Four of the men taken at the Blue Licks were de- 
livered up to Hamilton by the Indians; but Boone, 
although Hamilton offered to ransom him, (proposing 
£ioo sterling as the sum), they would not part with, 
— they "expecting, by his means, to effect some- 
thing," t He supposed that the reason why he was 

* Hamilton to Carleton, Jan. 26 — April 25, 1778. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. 

fid. "A Major [Captain] Daniel Boone, who com- 
manded Boonesborough, was taken with twenty-six men, 
some distance from his fort, by the Indians, who carried 
them to Detroit, without killing a man. This gentleman 
expressed his gratitude for the good treatment received, 



94 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

still kept a prisoner was because the savages had 
formed a friendship for him. He did not fully under- 
stand that Indians were adepts in the art of dissimu- 
lation. He was taken back to *'01d Chillicothe," leav- 
ing Detroit on the tenth of April, and reaching the 
Shawanese town on the twenty-fifth,* ''after a long 
and fatiguing march." 

The presence, at Chillicothe, in June, of a large 
number of savages "ready to march against Boones- 
borough," determined Boone to escape, the first op- 
portunity. "On the seventeenth, before sun-rise," he 
says, 'T departed in the most secret manner and arrived 
at Boonesborough on the twentieth, after a journey of 
one hundred and sixty miles, during which I had but 
one meal." f The escape of Boone, was the cause it 
seems, of the Indians postponing their march for the 
time, as they did not make their appearance as ex- 
pected. The interval was well improved by the garri- 
son in strengthening their little fortress. It was a 
wise precaution, as subsequent events demonstrated. 

During all these months — the first half of 1778 
— strange as it may seem, the Kentucky settlements 
were increasing their strength. Nothing could stay 
the tide of ernigration to that region. Cheap lands, 
an excellent soil, and a mild climate, were enough to 
induce the emigrant to brave all dangers of the toma- 
hawk and scalping knife. And then because of the 
determination of the Ohio Indians to strike as a rule 
the borders in force, small parties of savages had not, 

with his men while with us [at Detroit]." — Schieffelin: 
Loose Notes — Magazine of American History, vol. I, p, 
192. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note XXXIV.) 

* Boone's Narrative , before cited. 

fid. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 95 

to so great an extent, crossed the Ohio since the cap- 
ture of Boone; besides, a grand council at Detroit 
(hereafter to be noted) had engaged the attention of 
many of the Indian warriors ; but, the principal reason 
for the falling off for the first six months of the year 
of savage marauds was owing to the fact that Hamil- 
ton had become rather tired of such a desultory war- 
fare and longed as he had already hinted to Carleton, 
to have an opportunity to send his dusky allies upon 
some important expedition in a body. He was not as 
active as in 1777 in his murderous work. 

And there was still another reason. The Indians 
were finding a more inviting field for their aggressions 
in the Western Pennsylvania settlements and along the 
Virginia border south of them, as will hereafter be 
shown. 



CHAPTER VI. 

C A LARK once upon the ''Western waters" was, for 
the first time, actually on the move with troops 
toward the Illinois. He left the Pittsburgh 
country "in great confusion, much distressed by the 
Indians" arriving at the mouth of the Great Kanawha 
(Point Pleasant) past the middle of May, — to the 
great joy of the garrison in Fort Randolph; as they 
were weak and had just before been attacked by a large 
body of Indians.* He was importuned by the com- 
mandant of the post to join him in pursuit of the sav- 
ages who had gone against the interior settlements. 
"The temptation of success was great, but the im- 
portance of his own expedition was greater ; and for- 
tunately for his country, Clark knew his duty too well 
and discharged it too faithfully, to be diverted from 
his purpose." 

Before leaving Fort Randolph, the Colonel was 
joined by Captain James O'Hara's company on its 
way to Ozark (as the settlement, at the mouth of the 
Arkansas, under the rule of the Spanish, was then 
called). This was one of two Independent Virginia 
companies stationed on the Ohio — the other being 
that of Captain Henry Heath. f 

* See Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 25; Washington-Irvine Correspondence, pp. 18, 19; Capt. 
Joseph Bowman to Colonel John Hite, July 30, 1778 [Almon's 
Remembrances (1779), vol. VIII, p. 82]. Clark says he 
reached the fort the day after the attack; but Bowman (in 
this instance the better authority) says the garrison had, 
upon Clark's arrival, been confined eight days, "in which 
time, there had been an attack." 

t Appendix, Note XXXIV. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 97 

After spending a day or two at Point Pleasant, 
Clark again started down the Ohio. He had a very 
pleasant voyage to the mouth of the Kentucky where 
he landed. His first employment was to send ex- 
presses to stations on that river for Captain Smith to 
join him immediately at the Falls, as he had nO' doubt 
the Captain had reached that stream and was awaiting 
him. But, he soon learned that that officer had not 
arrived ; that all his men, except a part of a company, 
under a Captain Dillard, ''had been stopped by the 
incessant labors of the populace," "some on the march 
being threatened to be put in prison if they did not re- 
turn." This information, the Colonel declares, made 
him as desperate as he was before determined. 

"Reflecting," Clark says, "on the information that 
I had, of some of my greatest opponents censuring the 
Governor for his conduct in ordering me, as they 
thought, to protect Kentucky only — that, and some 
other secret impulses occasioned me, in spite of all 
counsel, to risk the expedition to convince them of 
their error, — which expedition to that moment was 
secret to my principal officers. I was sensible of the 
impression it would have on many to be taken near a 
thousand miles from the body of their country to at- 
tack a people five times their number and merciless 
tribes of Indians their allies, and all determined ene- 
mies to us. I knew my case was desperate, but the 
more I reflected on my weakness, the more I was 
pleased with the enterprise."* Clark thereupon wrote 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois , 
p. 26. Clark's words I have not followed closely, but I have 
endeavored to give his meaning. His language is vague, 
especially in reference to disclosing his secret to his principal 

7 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



to County Lieutenant John Bowman, at Harrodsburg, 
informing him, in words although vague yet calcu- 
lated to awaken enthusiasm, of his intention to fix a 
post at the Falls; and that, having an object in view 
of the greatest importance to the country, he desired 
that officer to meet him at that place, with all the men 
recruited by Smith that had reached Kentucky, and, 
with as many others as could be spared from the in- 
terior stations.* 

It was on the twenty-seventh of May, on what was 
afterward named "Corn Island," opposite the shore 
where Louisville now stands, that Clark finally rested, 
— choosing the island, instead of the southern shore, 
as a place where he could readily secure any of his men 
who would attempt to desert when it should be made 
known to them that the expedition was intended for 
the Illinois. There was, at this time, no settlement on 
the main land, although two thousand acres, a part oi 
the site of he present city of Louisville, had, on the 
sixteenth of December, 1773, been patented by John 
Connolly. The Falls could easily be reached from the 
interior stations ; which fact . probably, with the ad- 
vantage of the place being a considerable distance 
down the Ohio, directly on the route to Kaskaskia, 
had previously determined Clark to make it his final- 
rendezvous. 

The men who had been embodied by County Lieu- 
tenant Bowm.an at Clark's request, including also those 

officers; and an erroneous impression is conveyed when he 
speaks of the "merciless tribes of Indians" being then "their 
[the Creoles'] allies" and "all determined enemies," to the 
Americans. 

* Butler's Kentucky, p. 49. (See Appendix to our narra- 
tive. Note XXXV,) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 99 

brought in from Holston by Captain Dillard, reached 
Clark in due season; whereupon, he made known to 
all on the island his detemination to march against 
Kaskaskia.* It was, of course, a great surprise to 
those officers to whom the secret had not before been 
revealed, as well as to the rank and file. Eagerly they 
listened to the Colonel as he read his private instruc- 
tions, also the promise of Nythe, Mason and Jefferson 
as to a bounty in land. The commander soon found 
that, so far as the Kentuckians were concerned, it 
would not answer to take many of them with him, 
owing to the weakness and exposed condition of the 
settlements. He therefore engaged but twenty; and 
even these it was expected would be replaced by 
militia which would afterward reach the country from 
over the mountains. The residue afterward returned 
to the various stations whence they had marched. 

Clark now began, for the first time, to discipline his 
men, "knowing that to be the most essential point to- 
wards success." Most of them determined to follow 
him; and "as the rest saw (at first) no probability of 
making their escape," he "soon got the desired subor- 
dination." t 

* So well had the secret been kept that a prisoner taken 
from Kentucky by the Indians' and examined by Hamilton at 
Detroit reported that the Kentuckians had receently been 
reinforced by three companies. (See Hamilton to Haldi- 
mand, Sept. 5, 1778 — Haldimand MSS.) Little did the 
Lieutenant Governor dream, when he got this information, 
who constituted the three companies or that their destination 
was the Illinois, although he had already learned the result 
of their expedition. 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 27. 

L.oFC. 



100 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Now that the Colonel had revealed his real destina- 
tion, the time for starting was soon determined upon 
and made known to all under his command as- well as 
to Colonel Bowman and others frorri Harrodsburg, 
who resolved to stay until the expedition left the island. 
The defection already hinted at was mostly in Captain 
Dillard's company. His men, of course, had not en- 
listed for any service beyond the Kentucky settlements 
— they not being aware, as was Governor Henry, that 
the Illinois towns were within the limits of Virginia; 
and the greater portion of them under Lieutenant Hut- 
chins, determined, as they had been refused leave to 
return, to make their escape at all hazards; which 
they effected before daylight in the morning of the day 
fixed upon for the departure of the army down the 
Ohio.''' "Luckily," says the Colonel, "a few of his 
(the Lieutenant's) men were taken the next day by a 
party sent after them." f Those in pursuit were 
mounted on "the horses of the Harrodsburg gentle- 
men," overtaking the fugitives about twenty miles 
from the island, on the trace to Harrodsburg. Not 
less than seven were captured; the residue "scattered 
through the woods." Clark had given orders that all 
who resisted should be shot ; but none were killed. 
The men who were taken were brought back to the 
rendezvous; the others "suffered most severely every 
species of distress. The people of Harrodstown felt 
the baseness of the Lieutenant's conduct so keenly, and 

* Butler's Kentucky, p. 50. Butler a^so says : "The 
boats were . . . ordered to be well secured and sentries 
were placed where it was supposed the men might wade across 
the river to the Kentucky shore." 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 27. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 101 

resented it with such indignation that they would not 
for some time let him or his companions into the fort. 
On the return of the detachment from the pursuit, a 
day of rejoicing was spent between the troops about 
to descend the river and those whO' were to return on 
a service little inferior in danger and privation — the 
defence of the interior stations."* 

The twenty Kentuckians who, it was arranged, 
were to go with Clark, were put under command of 
Captain John Montgomery, the same officer who had 
the previous fall brought to the settlements a company 
of Virginia militia from Holston. ''In 1777," wrote 
Montgomery several years after, "being ordered with 
my company from Holston to the Kentucky country 
for its defense, I remained there until the year fol- 
lowing, when Colonel Clark arrived at the Falls of the 
Ohio with a body of troops on his way to the Illinois. 
I joined him."t Among those under the Captain were 
Edward Worthington and Simon Kenton.J 

There was one event of which the Colonel had 
heard, that gave him much satisfaction. In a letter 
written by Colonel John Campbell at Pittsburgh, and 
brought down the Ohio by Captain William Linn, who 
had overtaken Clark before his final rendezvous had 



* Butler's Kentucky, p. 50. Butler says that Clark gen- 
erously withheld the name of the lieutenant who deserted; 
but that author had not seen the Colonel's letter to Mason of 
November 19, 1779, already frequently cited. (See, further, 
as to the escape of the men from the island, Appendix to our 
narrative, Note XXXVI.) 

t Montgomery to the Board of Commissioners for the 
Settlement of Western Accounts, Feb. 22, 1783. {Calendar 
of Virginia State Papers, vol. Ill, p. 441); Mason's Early 
Chicago and Illinois, p. 352. 

X Appendix, Note XXXVII. 



102 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

been reached, he was informed of the acknowledge- 
ment of the independence of the United States on the 
sixth of the previous February, by, France, and of the 
conclusion between them of a treaty of alliance. "If 
war should break out between France and Great Brit- 
ain, were the words of the compact, "during the con- 
tinuance of the present war between the United States 
and England, his Majesty (the King of France) 
shall make it a common cause, and (France and the 
United States shall) aid each other mutually with 
their good offices, their counsels, and their forces, ac- 
cording to the exigencies of conjunctures, as becomes 
good and faithful allies-," Clark, of course, was not 
slow to perceive what use could be made of the in- 
formation in the event of his success against Kaskas- 
kia. Linn joined Clark's force as a volunteer."^ 

Before leaving the island, Clark erected thereon "a 
block house" (as he terms it, but which in reality 
would not strictly answer the description), in which 
to deposit such stores as were not to be taken along. 
The Colonel says it was to secure his provisions ;t 
but, at the same time, it would serve to protect from 
the Indians those left in charge of them. It is evident 
that, had he intended to take with him all stores he 
had brought down the Ohio, no structure of any kind 
would have made its appearance. It was no part of 
the Colonel's plan to stop on his way to Kaskaskia 
for the purpose of establishing a military post for the 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
122; Butler's Kentucky, p. 50; Hall's Romance of Western 
History, p. 109. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note 
XXXVIII.) 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 27. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 103 

protection of the Kentucky settlements at any point, 
or of the prospective river trade on the Ohio. Nor 
was it his idea that, on the presumption of being suc- 
cessful in his expedition it would be prudent to put up, 
on the island, a defensive work for the convenience of 
communication between the Illinois towns and the Ken- 
tucky settlements, as one of his officers afterward 
erroneously stated, in substance.* Clark did not 
choose the Falls for his stopping place, or the island 
for a "station," because of any other considerations 
than such as had reference to his expedition in going 
and coming, whatever may have, afterwards, induced 
his efforts towards making a permanent lodgment 
there. His words to Colonel Bowman of his intention 
to fix a post at the Falls were (if not intended to apply 
to what, in the future, he might accomplish) only to 
secure prompt and efficient action from that officer.f 
Having got everything in readiness, the Colonel 
with "about one hundred and eighty" officers and 
men, mostly Virginians and all in the Virginia ser- 
vice, consisting • of four companies, under the com- 
mand of Captains Helm, Bowman, Harrod and Mont- 
gomery, set off for KaskaskiaJ (intending to drop 
down the Ohio to the deserted Fort Massac on the 
north side of the river, and march thence by land), 
leaving not less than ten families of the twenty who 
had accompanied him from Redstone (the residue 

* Col. John Montgomery to "B'd of Com'r for Settlem.ent 
of Western Accts," Calendar of Virginia State Papers, p. 
441. (See also Mason's Early Chicago and Illinois, p. 352.) 
Montgomery's declaration was evidently an afterthought. 

t Appendix, Note XXXIX. 

X See, further, as to Clark's force leaving the island, 
Appendix, Note XL. 



104 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 

having gone into the Kentucky settlements), on the 
island also seven soldiers "judged not competent to 
the expected fatigue." The whole were to guard the 
military stores not taken along by the Colonel,* 

''As I knew/' are the subsequent words of Clark, 
"that spies were kept on the river below the towns of 
the Illinois, I had resolved to march part of the way 
by land, and of course left the whole of our baggage, 
except as much as would equip us in the Indian mode ;" 
that is, each one would carry only his rifle and a sup- 
ply of ammunition, together with a knife and hatchet 
(tomahawk), and provisions deemed sufficient for the 
march. f 

The start was made on the twenty-fourth of June 
— a month and two days after the arrival at the ren- 
dezvous. "We left," says Clark, "our little island and 
ran about a mile up the river in order to gain the 
main channel, and shot the falls at the very moment 
of the sun being in a great eclipse. "J With oars 

* See Appendix, Note XLI. 

t Clark's Memoir in Dillon's Indiana* (ed. of 1859), p. 
121. It must not be supposed from Clark's language that 
he and his men were to dress themselves as Indians ; that 
is, as the savages do before going on the war path. Butler, 
however, followed the Memoir closely: "All the baggage 
beyond what was necessary to equip the party in the barest 
Indian manner, was left behind, as the commander had 
determined, in order to mask his operations, to march to 
Kaskaskia by land from the nearest point on the Ohio.'' 
{History of Kentucky, p. 50.) 

X Clark's Memoir, in Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), 
p. 121. This is another instance where his Memoir corrects 
the Colonel's letter to Mason. In the latter, he gives the 
date of his departure as June 26th (Clark's Campaign in the 
Illinois, p. 28) ; but the eclipse was on the 24th. The cor- 
rection is first to be found in Butler's Kentucky, p. 50. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 105 

double-manned, the Colonel proceeded day and night 
until, on the twenty-eighth, he ran into the mouth of 
the Tennessee river. Here he landed on an island to 
prepare for the march by land to Kaskaskia. Clark 
had no one with him, it seems, who had previously 
gone over the proposed route, but it was understood 
to be a four-days' journey. Provisions were there- 
fore, to be prepared for that length of time. 

A few hours after landing, the men took a boat 
of hunters but eight days from Kaskaskia. Before the 
Colonel would suffer them to answer any person a 
question, he asked them to take the oath of allegiance 
which they did, and he then examined them particu- 
larly. They were English — not French — and ap- 
peared to be in the American interest. Their intelli- 
gence was not favorable. They asked leave to go upon 
the expedition, which Clark granted them. The Col- 
onel then ordered them what to relate to his men, on 
pain of suffering if they deviated from his instructions. 
They carried out Clark's orders, in this regard, to the 
letter, which put his soldiers in the greatest spirits; 
sure, by what they heard, of success. In the evening, 
Clark ran his boats into a small creek on the north 
side of the Ohio, ''about one mile above old Fort 
Massac."* 

It was a total eclipse. Hinsdale {The Old Northwest, p. 154) 
fails to correct Clark's date — June 26th. (See further as to 
Clark's leaving the island, Appendix to our narrative, Note 
XLII; and as to the erroneous assertion to be found in 
his Memoir, that he had thoughts of attacking Vincennes 
before going against Kaskaskia, see Note XLIII.) 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 28; not "at" Tort Massac," as Lyman C. Draper asserts, 
in Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, art. 



106 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Years after, thus wrote Clark: ''As I intended to 
leave the Ohio at Fort Massac, three leagues below the 
Tennessee, I landed on a small island in the mouth of 
that river, in order to prepare for the march [by land]. 
In a few hours after, one John [McEl] Duff and a 
party of hunters coming down the river, were brought 
to, by our boats. They were men formerly from the 
States and assured us of their happiness in the ad- 
venture. . . . They had been but lately from 
Kaskaskia, and were able to give us all the intelligence 
we wished. They said that [Lieutenant] Governor 
Abbott had lately left Vincennes and gone to Detroit 
on some business of importance ; — that Mr. Roche- 
blave commanded at Kaskaskia ; . . that the militia was 
kept in good order and spies [were kept] on the Mis- 
sissippi ; . . . that all hunters, both Indians and others 
were ordered to keep a good look-out for the rebels ; 
and that the fort [at Kaskaskia] was kept in good 
order as an asylum; . . . But they believed the 
whole to proceed more from the fondness of parade 
than the expectation of a visit [from the Americans] ; 
that if they received timely notice of us, they would 
collect and give us a warm reception, as they were 
taught to harbor a most horrid idea of the barbarity 
of the rebels, especially the Virginians ; but that if we 
could surprise the place, which they were in hopes we 
might, they made no doubt of our being able to do as 
we pleased ; that they hoped to be received as partak- 
ers in the enterprise, and wished us to put full confi- 
dence in them and they would assist the guides in 
conducting the party. This was agreed to, and they 
proved valuable men. 

"George Rogers Clark." "Massac" is a corruption of "Mas- 
siac," the name of the first French commander of the post. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 107 

"The acquisition to us was great, as I had no in- 
telligence from these posts since the spies [returned, 
whom] I sent twelve months past. But no part of 
their information pleased me more than that of the in- 
habitants viewing us as more savage than their neigh- 
bors, the Indians. I was determined to improve upon 
this, if I was fortunate enough to get them into my 
possession; as I conceived the greater the shock I 
could give them, at first, the more sensibly would they 
feel my lenity, and become more valuable friends. 
This I conceived to be agreeable to human nature, as 
I had observed it in many instances. 

"Having everything prepared, we moved down to 
a little gully a small distance above [Fort] Massac, in 
which we concealed our boats." . . "^ 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
122, 123. "Thence [that is, from the island], we continued 
down the Ohio, moving day and night . . . till within 
sixty miles of the mouth [when] we ran our boats up a 
small creek to hide them, not having men enough to leave 
a sufficient guard [to watch them]." — Bowman to Hite, 
July 30, 1778. (See further as to the hunters "brought to" 
by Clark, also as to Fort Massac, — Appendix to our narra- 
tive, Note XLIV.) 



CHAPTER VII. 

CLARK and his companions-in-arms, after repos- 
ing themselves upon the soil of what is now 
the State of Illinois for the night, commenced 
their march by land toward Kaskaskia, on the morn- 
ing of the twenty-ninth of June, having a distance to 
travel northwestward of about one hundred and forty 
miles. The Colonel declares he had a very fatigueing 
journey for about fifty miles, when he reached ''those 
level plains that are frequent throughout this extensive 
country." His route had thus far been "through a 
low, flat region, intersected by numerous streams and 
ponds, and entirely covered with a most luxuriant 
vegetation." All were on foot. They had no imple- 
ments of warfare save their guns and their knives and 
hatchets : no horses, no tents or other camp equipage. 
Clark marched thoughtfully on, ''at the head of his 
gallant and determined band, with his rifle on his 
shoulder and his provision up on his back." "As I knew 
my success depended on secrecy, I was much afraid," 
he declared, "of being discovered in these meadows, 
as we might be seen, in many places, for several miles." 
The weather was favorable but water in some parts 
was scarce, and the men at times suiTered from thirst.'*" 
On the third day of the march, John Saunders, 
principal guide to the expedition, got lost, — "not 
being able," says the Colonel, "as we judged by his 
confusion, of giving a just account of himself." It 
put the whole force in the greatest confusion. "1 
never in my life," is the emphatic declaration of 
Clark, "felt such a flow of rage, — to be wandering in 

'•'Appendix, Note XLV. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 109 

a country where every nation of Indians could raise 
three or four times our number, and [to suffer] a cer- 
tain loss of our enterprise by the enemy getting timely 
notice [of our approach]. I could not bear the 
thoughts of returning. In short, every idea of the 
sort put me in such a passion that I did not master 
it for some time. Soon, however, our circumstances 
had a better appearance, for I had determined to put 
the guide to death if he did not find his way thai- 
evening. I told him his doom. The poor fellow 
scared almost out of his wits, begged that I would stay 
a while where I was and suffer him to go and make 
some discovery of a [hunter's] road that could not be 
far from us ; which I would not suffer for fear of not 
seeing him again, but ordered him to lead on the party ; 
that his fate depended on his success. After some 
little pause, he begged that I would not be hard with 
him, that he could find the path that evening." The 
bewildered Saunders then took his course, and in two 
hours got within his knowledge.* 

On the fourth of July, in the evening, the Colonel 
and his men got within three miles of Kaskaskia, — 
having marched the last two days "without any sus- 
tenance." t They now halted untij dark, out of sight 
of the town, at the same time sending spies ahead. 
The Kaskaskia river was to be crossed before the town 
could be reached and Fort Gage assailed.^ 'Tn our 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
pp. 29, 30. Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859, 
p. 124. Appendix to our narrative, Note XLVI. 

t Bowman to Hite. Compare Marshall's Kentucky, vol. 
I, p. 67. See also Appendix to our narrative, Note XLVII. 

t Bowman to Hite. Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign 
in the Illinois, p. 30. Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana 



no HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

hungry condition," says Captain Bowman, "we unani- 
mously determined to take the town or die in the 
attempt." ''' "After making ourselves ready for any- 
thing that might happen," are the words of Clark, 
"we marched after night to a farm that was on the 
same [east] side of the river, about a mile above the 
town, took the family prisoners and found plenty of 
boats to cross in." f The commander was informed 
that the people of Kaskaskia had had some suspicion of 
being attacked and had made some preparations, keep- 
ing out spies. However, as no discoveries had been 
made, they "had got off their guard." This /suffi- 
ciently disproves a tradition "that a hunter has^"dis- 
covered the American troops, and apprised the inhabi- 
tants of the place of their approach, but that his story 
was considered so improbable as to obtain no credit." 
It was the time of year for more than the usual number 
of men of the Creole population to be at their homes in 
the village, and many were present ;$ so, too, there 
seems to have been a considerable number of Indians 

(ed. of 1859), p. 124. Appendix to our narrative, Note 
XLVIII. 

* From his letter to Hite, just cited. 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 30. It is a tradition that the family home was a ferry- 
house and that the farmer was also keeper of a ferry across 
the Kaskaskia river. But this tradition (which has fre- 
quently been printed) needs evidence to support it. I have 
never met with any mention in contemporaneous accounts, 
of a ferry on that stream at that date. The words of Clark 
imply there was none ; — he "found plenty of boats to cross 
in;" — evidently there was no crossing on a ferry. 

J This fact is brought out in Clark's Memoir in these 
words, "that at that time there was a great number of men 
in town" (see Dillon's Indiana, ed. of 1859, p. 124, and 
Butler's Kentucky, p. 52.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. Ill 

in the town a short time before the Colonel's approach, 
but now they had, most of them left, and all was 
quiet. In two hours' time, the Kaskaskia was crosesd 
in the greatest silence, and final orders were given as 
to the attack. 

"I immediately divided my little army into two 
divisions," are the words of the Colonel, ''ordered one 
to surround the town, with the other I broke into the 
fort, and secured the Governor, Mr. Rocheblave," * 
who, at the time, had no suspicions of the immediate 
presence of a force from Virginia, nor indeed from 
any other quarter. Fort Gage had no garrison to 
speak of, not even of local militia — a sentry or two 
was all. 

The "Governor, Mr. Rocheblave," was, it seems, 
when Clark and his division "broke into the fort," 
asleep in bed. But he was quickly aroused by the un- 
usual noise. He sprang up, and, half-dressed, rushed 
to the door of his quarters to inquire into the disturb- 
ance. He was met by the Colonel who informed him. 
he was a prisoner to the Americans. The "Governor'^ 
at once yielded to a "rebel" force under command of 
"Mr. Clark" — a "self-styled Colonel," as he subse- 
quently called the American commander; and the 
"Commandant of all the English part of the Illinois" 
was no longer in power. — Hard fate ! During the 
day, his ever-watchful eyes had been upon the Ohio 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 31. Here, again, Clark's letter just cited differs from 
his Memoir. In the latter, he says he divided his army 
into three divisions: "with one of the divisions, I marched 
to the fort, and ordered the other two into different quarters 
of the town." — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859) p. 124. I 
have followed his letter to Mason, 



112 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

— the ''Beautiful River" — but he discovered no im- 
mediate danger in that direction. He had seen, in his 
imagination, bateaux following each other upon that 
stream in quick succession from Fort Pitt, loaded with 
provisions destined for New Orleans — that was all. 
Although "a numerous band of brigands" might soon 
attack him, yet they were not to come from Virginia.* 
He had never heard of one George Rogers Clark. He 
knew George Morgan and he had heard of William 
Linn ; but the former had gone to Philadelphia from 
Pittsburgh according to his latest information; and 
as to the last named — he knew nothing of his where- 
abouts. But Linn was not so ignorant of Rocheblave.f 
'The commanding officer, Philip Rocheblave," says 
Captain Bowman, "we made prisoner." The Captain 
also says they secured "all his instructions which he 
had received from time to time from the several Gov- 
ernors at Detroit, Quebec and Michilimackinac, to set 

* "On this very day," says a recent writer, "Rocheblave, 
the commander of the post, all unconscious of the impending 
danger, was pouring forth the vexations of his soul in a 
pathetic appeal to Gen. Haldimand [Sir Guy Carleton, who, 
he (Rocheblave) supposed, was still] Governor of Canada. 
He depicted the discouragements of settlers, the disloyal con- 
duct of those of British birth — enlarged upon the urgency 
of the need for troops, the jealousies of the inhabitants, 
Spanish encroachments, and expatiated upon the 'brigandage' 
of Capt. Willing upon the Mississippi, fearing lest the 
latter might surprise and capture a position [Kaskaskia] 
regarded [by Rocheblave] as of great importance." — John 
Moses: History of Illinois, vol. I, pp. 148, 149. (For Roche- 
blave's latter in full, translated from the French, see Mason's 
Early Chicago and Illinois, pp. 412-418. See also ante, 
Chap. Ill of our narrative.) 

t See further as to the capture of Fort Gage, Appendix, 
Note XLVIII, before cited. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 113 

the Indians upon us, offering great rewards for our 
scalps ; for which service, he has a salary of two hun- 
dred pounds sterling a year."^ However, what was 
really secured was, besides letters of De Peyster and 
Governor Carleton, those of Hamilton from Detroit, 
some of which directed him to stimulate the Indians 
to hostility ; but neither of the writers authorized him 
to offer rewards for scalps. f 

It was arranged before hand that 'n case Clark 
met with no resistance at the fort, he and his men 
were to signal the other division (which, tradition 
says, was commanded by Captain Helm), by giving 
a general shout, when the town itself was to be as- 
sailed.J The signal was promptly given, and the men 
had matters all their own way in the village.§ In 

* Bowman to Hite. A Kentucky historian says : "Written 
instructions from Detroit were found in the possession of the 
commandant Rocheblave, directing him to unite the Indians 
to commit depredations on the citizens of the United States 
and to promise them rewards for scalps, while the conduct 
of the savages, conforming to these instructions, left no 
doubt of their having been complied with." (Marshall's 
Kentucky, vol. I, p. 68.) It will be noticed that Marshall 
follows Bowman closely. Evidently he had knowledge of 
what the latter had written. 

t Copies of these letters or "Instructions," as Bowman 
calls them (and most of them had the force of instructions) , 
were kept by the writers and they are now among the Haldi-. 
mand MSS. They show no such "offering," (Appendix to 
our narrative, Note XLVIII, already cited, may be con- 
sulted in this connection.) 

t Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
124, 125. 

§It is not difficult to understand the exact affairs at the 
movement when Clark found the fort in his possession with- 
8 



114 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

fifteen minutes, 'the Colonel declares, he had every 
street secured ; he sent runners through the village 
ordering the people on pain of death to keep close 
to their houses, which they observed, and before day- 
light had all the people disarmed.* Meanwhile, every 
avenue was guarded to prevent any escape to give 
alarm to the other villages ; and all the while, for the 
effect it might have, the greatest noise was kept up by 
the troops through every quarter of the town.f ''The 
place," wrote Captain Bowman, "consists of two hun- 
dred and fifty families, sufficiently fortified to have 
resisted a thousand men." % 

Clark sent for several of the citizens during the 
night for the purpose of obtaining intelligence ; how- 
ever, but little information could be obtained beyond 
what had already been procured from the hunters who 
were "brought to" at the mouth of the Tennessee, ex- 
cept that a body of Indians lay at this time in the 
neighborhood of Cahokia, sixty miles up the Missis- 
sippi, and that Gabriel Cerre, a principal merchant of 
Kaskaskia, was then one of the most inveterate ene- 
mies of the Americans. § 

The Colonel's first act on the morning of the fifth 
was the withdrawing of all his men from the town 

out resistance — at that moment the other division of his 
command was marching to occupy the village. 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 31. 

t Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
125. 

X Bowman to Hite. 

§ Butler's Kenitucky pp. 53, 54. See also that author in 
The Western Journal, vol. XII, p. 168. And the tradition 
is sufBciently confirmed by Monferton to Cerre, Sept. 22, 
1778, in the Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 115 

(except enough to garrison the fort) to different po- 
sitions around it. "During these movements, as all 
intercourse with the soldiers by the Kaskaskians had 
been forbidden by Clark under heavy penalties, and 
even those who had been sent for had also been or- 
dered to have no communication with anyone else, • — 
distrust and terror overspread the village. 

The result of the removal of the troops was, that 
the citizens were permitted to walk about freely; 
when, finding they were busy in conversation with one 
another, a few of the principal residents, mostly militia 
ofiicers highest in command, Clark apprehended and 
put in irons, without assigning any cause or his order, 
or suffering any defense to be made. "This immedi- 
ately produced general consternation ;" and the people 
expected the worst consequences from tHe Americans. 

After some time, Pierre Gibault, the Roman Catho- 
lic priest of the place (Vicar-General of the Bishop of 
Quebec for the Ihinois and adjacent countries), got 
permission, with five or six elderly gentlemen, resi- 
dents of Kaskaskia, to wait upon Clark.* "Shocked 
as the citizens had been by the sudden capture of 
their town and by such an enemy as their imaginations 
had painted, the party were, evidently, still more 
shocked when they entered Clark's quarters, at the 
appearance of him and his officers. Their clothes 
dirty and torn by the briars, their others left at the 
[Ohio] river, — the appearance of the chiefs of this 

* According to Clark, Father Gibault had, while in 
Canada (from which country he had lately come), made 
himself somewhat acquainted with the dispute between Britain 
and America, and was, unlike a brother who resided there, 
rather inclined to favor the United States. — Clark's Campaign 
in the Illinois, pp. 33, 34. See also Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 
1859), p. 126, 127. 



116 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

little band was indeed frightful and savage (as Clark 
himself admits) to any eyes." * 

It was sometime after entering the room where 
Clark and his officers were seated before the callers 
could speak ; and this they did not do even, until their 
business was demanded. They asked which was the 
commander — ''so effectually had this backwoods ex- 
pedition confounded the difference of rank." The 
priest then said the inhabitants ''expected to be sepa- 
rated perhaps never to meet again." Giving up all for 
lost, their lives were all they could dare beg for, which 
they did with the greatest subserviency. They were 
willing to be slaves to save their families. 

Clark told them it did not suit him to give them 
an answer at that time. He gave permission, how- 
ever, to the citizens generally to go once more to their 
church to take leave of each other — a request which 
had humbly been made by their representatives — at 
the same time telling his auditors, the people must not 
venture out of town. Some further conversation was 
attempted by the Kaskaskians present, but it was re- 
pelled by the Colonel who told them there was no 
longer leisure for further intercourse.! This he did 

* "How much more so," says Butler, "to this deputation, 
may be easily conceived by those who are acquainted with the 
refinement and delicacy of the ancient French [History of 
Kentucky, p. 55]." But the "refinement and delicacy of the 
ancient French" of the Illinois may well be questioned. 

t The recollection of Clark many years thereafter was 
to the effect that the people of the town suspected their 
religion was abnoxious to the men under his command, and 
that therefore he told the priest, carelessly, that he had 
nothing to say against his church — it was a matter Amer- 
icans left for every man to settle with his God (Butler: 
History of Kentucky, p. 55; Dillon: History of Indiana, pp. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 117 

that the alarm might be raised to its utmost height. 
The deputation departed and the whole village as- 
sembled at the church — the houses being deserted by 
all who could leave them. Orders were given to pre- 
vent any soldiers from entering the buildings left 
without occupants. The people remained in the church 
for a considerable time, w^hen they repaired to their 
houses, trembling as if being led to execution. It did 
not require a lengthy reflection on part of the Ameri- 
can commander to determine his course toward these 
inoffensive people. It was his original idea to treat 
them leniently should they fall into his hands and, if 
possible, attach them to his interest; indeed, as he 
declares, his principles would not suffer him to dis- 
tress such a number of persons, unless through policy 
it was necessary ; — his instructions, also, from Gov- 
ernor Henry were of a like spirit ; and he now, in view 
of the fact that Cahokia and Vincennes remained to 
be secured and that there were numerous Indian tribes 
in the vicinity attached to the French, who were yet 
to be influenced in favor of the Americans, — resolved 
to carry out his first intentions. In fact, the Colonel, 
as he himself asserts, was too weak to treat the in- 
habitants in any other manner.* 

Clark now sent for all the most influential men in 
the town^ not under arrest, to meet him at headquar- 
ters. They ''came in as if to a tribunal that was to de- 
termine their fate forever," says the American com- 

125, 126). In his letter to Mason, Clark does not mention 
this conversation, nor that the people generally went to 
the church, upon his' leave, to bid farewell to each other. 
* Consult, again, as to what immediately followed on 
the taking of Kaskaskia, Appendix to our narrative, Note 
XLVIIL 



118 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

mander, "cursing their fortune that they were not ap- 
prised of us time enough to have defended themselves. 
I told them that I was sorry to find that they had been 
taught to harbor so base an opinion of the Americans 
and their cause. I explained the nature of the dispute 
to them in as clear a light as I was capable of. It was 
certain that they were a conquered people, and by the 
fate of war were at my mercy." But the Colonel here 
declared that the American principle was to make such 
as were reduced free instead of slaves. He likewise 
told them that, if he could have a surety of their zeal 
and attachment to the American cause, they should 
immediately enjoy all the privileges of the Govern- 
ment and their property be secured to them. He as- 
sured them that it was only to stop the farther effu- 
sion of innocent blood by the savages under the in- 
fluence of Rocheblave that made them an object of 
his attention ; and now that the king of France had 
united his powerful arms with those of America, the 
war would not in all probability continue long.* 
. The citizens, from the deepest gloom, "fell into 
transports of joy." They assured Clark they had 
always been kept in the dark as to the dispute between 
America and Britain ; that they had never heard any- 
thing before but what was prejudiced and tended to 
incense them against the Americans ; and ^that they 
were now convinced that it was a cause that they ought 

* Although the reference to the alliance between France 
and the United States is not mentioned b}' Clark in his letter 
to Mason, it is spoken of in his Memoir; and, as it would 
hardly have been overlooked by the Colonel on the occasion, 
it is given in the text as a verity. Clark had reached a 
conclusion not fully warranted by what he had learned, 
that the savages under Rocheblave's influence were shedding 
"innocent blood," — at least, to any particular extent. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 119 

to espouse; that they should be happy of an oppor- 
tunity to convince the Colonel of their zeal ; and they 
would think themselves the happiest people in the 
world if they were united with the Americans : they 
begged Clark that he would receive what they said 
as their real sentiments. In order to be more certain 
of their sincerity, the American commander told them 
an oath of allegiance would be required of them ; but 
to give them time to reflect on it, he would not ad- 
minister it for a few days; in the meantime any of 
them who chose were at liberty to leave the country 
with their families (except two or three particular 
persons) ; that they might repair to their homes and 
conduct themselves as usual, without any dread* 

Gibault, the priest, asked the Colonel would he give 
him liberty to perform his duty in his church. Clark 
told him he had nothing to do with churches more than 
to defend them from insult; that by the laws of Vir- 
ginia, his religion had as great privileges as any other. 

''This," says Clark, "seemed to complete their hap- 
piness. They retu'rned to their families, and in a 
few minutes the scene of mourning and distress was 
turned to an excess of joy — nothing else was seen 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 33. Who the two or three particular persons were that 
were not permitted to leave the country at that time will 
presently appear. "Perfect freedom was now given to the 
inhabitants to go or come as they pleased, so confident 
were our countrymen, that whatever report might be made, 
[it] would be to the credit and success of the American 
arms." (Butler: History of Kentucky, p. 57.) How this 
freedom was subsequently abused, will hereafter be seen. 
The first to leave for Detroit to carry the news to Hamilton 
was Francis Maisonville. (Hamilton to Haldimand, July 
6, 1781 — Germain MSS.) 



120 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

or heard." They adorned the streets with flowers, 
hung out flags of different colors, and completed their 
happiness by singing and other demonstrations of de- 
light.* The oath of Allegiance to Virginia and the 
United States was soon after taken by them.f 

The action of the Colonel in imprisoning a few 
Kaskaskians was a precaution taken not to let the most 
influential of his enemies (if, really, they should prove 
such) escape. But the throwing them and Rocheblave 
in irons (for such was the treatment accorded to the 
latter also) was an excess of caution, if nothing more.f 
Notably among those deprived of their liberty was M. 
Cerre, the merchant who had been accused of being 
a most determined foe to the Americans. He too, was 
ironed. § 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
pp. 33, 34. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note XLIX.) 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 35. "In a few days" are Clark's words, "the inhabitants 
of the country took the oath subscribed [authorized] by law, 
and every person appeared to be happy." That the citizens 
took the oath of allegiance both to Virginia and the United 
States is evident. In his Memoir [Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 
1859), p. 127], Clark says it was to Virginia. But, that 
the United States was included. Bowman to Hite, makes 
it sufficiently evident. And corroborative is Hamilton to 
Carleton, Aug. 8, 1778; also De Peyster to Haldimand, 
Aug. 31, 1778 and January 29, 1779: Haldimand MSS. 

X Nowhere in any writing by Clark does he say that 
Rocheblave was ironed; but such was the fact. Butler {His- 
tory of Kentucky, p. 54) apologizes for Clark in these words: 
"These measures [the putting in irons of Kaskaskians] were 
taken from no wanton cruelty: for, of all men. Colonel Clark 
enjoyed the mildest and most affectionate disposition; and he 
severely felt, as he says, every hardship he believed himself 
compelled to inflict." 

§ As to the ironing and imprisonment, see De Peyster 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 121 

The treatment given Rocheblave on his being cap- 
tured, was according to British reports, such as to 
approach the verge of barbarity. He was not only 
ironed but was confined in an outbuilding inside the 
pickets of the fort, where hogs had been kept. The 
commander's wife, it was also alleged, was offered 
indignities."^ However, the putting in irons and im- 
prisonment of citizens was only for a few hours dura- 
tion, except as to Rocheblave and Cerre.f And even 
they, it is probable, were only ironed for a short time, 
though they were still kept in close confinement.^ 

to Haldimand, Aug. 31, 1778 and Monferton to Cerre, 
Sept. 22, same year. — Haldimand MSS. An account sent 
by one Chevalier, a Frenchman from St. Joseph, to De Pey- 
ster, that Rocheblave and Cerre were put in irons because 
of having refused [to take] the oaths of allegiance to the 
king of Spain, the French king, and the Congress" was, of 
course, a rediculous report. (De Peyster to Haldimand, 
Aug. 31, 1778 — Haldimand MSS.) See Appendix to our 
narrative, Note XXV. 

* Hamilton to Carleton, Aug. 8 and De Peyster to Haldi- 
mand Aug. 31, 1778 — Haldimand MSS.; also, especially, 
Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781 — Germain MSS. 
The words of the Lieutenant Governor are, as to Rocheblave, 
that he "was laid in irons and put in a place where hogs 
had been kept, ankle deep in filth." But, probably, this was 
an exaggeration. See Appendix, Note — . 

t Such, at least, is to be infered from Clark's Memoir — 
Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859) , p. 126. They were probabl}'- 
all released before the night of the fight, except Rocheblave 
and Cerre. 

X A month after he was captured, the prisoner wrote to 
Carleton: "I say nothing to you of my prison, which there 
is nothing like in Algiers." (Mason's Early Chicago and 
Illinois, p. 419.) If credit is to be givon to tradition, there 
was some excuse for the ill treatment accorded Rocheblave, 
as he did not hesitate to continually denounce the American 
commander. 



122 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Cerre, upon regaining his freedom (he having 
been finally set at liberty), immediately crossed the 
Mississippi to St. Louis, leaving his family and an 
extensive assortment of merchandise in Kaskaskia.* 
It then occurred to Clark that a person of so much 
importance must, if possible, be gained over to the 
cause of the United States ; for his influence, the 
American commander quickly saw, would be of the 
utmost consequence if exerted in the right direction. 
A guard was therefore soon placed around his house 
to the end that none of his family or property should 
be disturbed; but he gave out that the object was 
to secure boats because Cerre by fleeing had virtually 
acknowledged himself an enemy, and that he had been 
guilty of inciting the Indians against the Americans. 
Clark then patiently awaited developments. f The 
Colonel had alread}^ turned his attention to Cahokia. 
He prepared on the afternoon of the fifth, a detach- 
ment on horseback — Illinois horses, of course, had 
to be used — under Captain Bowman ''to make a de- 
scent" On that village which was, as we have seen, 
about sixty miles ''up the country." The Kaskaskians 
assured the American commander that one of their 
own townsmen was enough to put him in possession 
of the place "by carrying the good news" of the treat- 
ment they had received ; but Clark "did not altogether 
choose to trust them." As it was, the Captain and his 
men were attended by a considerable number of the 
Kaskaskia citizens.^ Bowman "got into the middle of 

* Butler has it, that, at the time of Clark's arrival, 
Cerre was in St. Louis, which, of course, is error. 

t Butler in Western Journal, loc. cit. 

X Clark's recollection years after was, that these Kas- 
kaskians were commanded by former militia officers of the 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 123 

the town before they were discovered; the French 
gentlemen calHng aloud to the people to submit to 
their happier fate, which they did with very little hesi- 
tation. A number of Indians being in town, on hear- 
ing of the 'Big Knives,' immediately made their es- 
cape." 

"I was ordered by our commanding officer (Colonel 
Clark)," says Captain Bowman, "with thirty men on 
horseback to attack three other French towns up the 
Mississippi. The first, called Prairie du Rocher, is 
about fifteen miles from Kaskaskia, the town we had 
in possession ; and before they had any knowledge of 
my arrival, I was in possession of the place, which was 
no small surprise to them ; in consequence of which^ 
they were willing to comply with any terms I should 
piopose." 

"Thence," continues the Captain, "I passed to St. 
Philip's, about nine miles farther up the river, which 
I likewise took possession of ; and as it was impossible 
for them to know my strength (the whole being trans- 
acted in the night) they also came to my own terms. 
I proceeded thence to Cahokia, about forty or fifty 
miles above St. Philip's, which contained about one 
hundred families. We rode immediately to the com- 
mander's house and demanded a surrender of him and 
the whole town, which was at once compHed with. I 
then possessed myself of a large stone house, well 
fortified for war. I was immediately threatened by a 
man of the place that he would call in one hundred 

town (Butler's Kentucky, p. 58) ; rather vaguely expressed 
by Dillon {History of Indiana, p. 127) as being "a volunteer 
company of French militia." It is said that "all set off in 
high spirits at this new mark of confidence under the free 
government of Virginia." 



124 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and fifty Indians to his assistance and cut me off. 
This fellow I took care to secure ; but we lay upon our 
arms the whole night, this being the third night with- 
out sleep." "^^ 

"In the morning," the Captain goes on to say, "I 
required the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance 
to the States or I should treat them as enemies, which 
they readily agreed to ; and before ten o'clock' there 
were one hundred and fifty who followed the example. 
In less than ten days, there were three hundred who 
took the oaths, and they now appear much attached 
to our cause." f 

The inhabitants' of the two principal towns having 
thus sw'orn fealty to the United States and to Virginia 
and the smaller villages having submitted to the Vir- 
ginians, — "the British Illinois" become at once (anr], 
it may be premised, permanently) American. And all 

* Bowman to Hite. Clark's subsequent assertion that 
Bowman's force was made up of the Captain's company and 
part of another, is at fault; although there was in the 
detachment, doubttess, men from two companies — principally 
from Bowman's. It was not strictly true that Clark ordered 
Bowman "to attack" the other towns. He was "to make a 
descent" on Cahokia, it being well understood by both the 
Colonel and the Captain that, in all probability, no resist- 
ance would be offered. 

t Bowman to Hite. The above was written almost at 
the very time of the expiration of the ten days. In an 
"Account of the French Forts Ceded to Great Britain in 
Louisiana," written before the English occupation of the 
IlHnois, is the following with reference to Cahokia: "Fifteen 
leagues from Fort Chartres, going up the Mississippi, is the 
village of Casquiars [Cahokia]. There is a small stockade 
fort; I don't know if there is any cannon. There may be 
about 100 inhabitants." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 125 

this had been accompHshed without the shedding of 
a drop of blood ! 

Clark's success, thus far, extraordinary though it 
was, cannot be said to have been because of any great 
display of military genius. He had not encountered 
an enemy of any strength either inside a fortification 
or in the field. At the start, it had been his faith in 
previous information gained by him that determined 
him to undertake the expedition; and once under- 
taken, his firmness and resolution would not permit 
him to yield to any discouragement. But there was 
one element in his success that the greatest and wisest 
of Generals do not fail to invoke as one of the most 
important factors in military science — and that was 
secrecy. Much was due to his suavity of manners — 
much to his readiness to share to the fullest extent 
with his men their trials and hardships, — but it was 
the secrecy which he so completely maintained as to 
the real object of his undertaking that, in the end, in- 
sured his triumph. What he had accomplished (had 
he subsequently done no more) would not have, hence- 
forth, given him the prestige for a capacity for great 
military talents or sagacity ; nevertheless, there was 
already enough to his credit to entitle him to the dis- 
tinction of having his acts spoken of as heroic. 

But writers of Western history, in the past, have 
been prone to exaggerate the troubles and trials — the 
fears and sufferings — which from the commencement 
of the expedition to the capture of the Illinois villages, 
beset the Colonel and his men. Says one of these 
chroniclers : 

''A law had been passed for the raising of a regi- 
ment; the troops had been enlisted, officered and 



126 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

equipped, transported thirteen hilndred miles by land 
and water, through a wilderness country, inhabi- 
ted by Indian allies of the enemy, and marched into 
a garrisoned town, without the slightest suspicion, 
much less discovery, of the movement. When we 
observe the amount of time and labor which is 
now expended in making a journey from Virginia 
to Kaskaskia [this was written before there was 
railway communication between the two], with all 
our improvements, and reflect how incalculably 
greater must have been the difficulties of such 
a journey at that time, when there was no road across 
the mountains, nor any boats in which to navigate 
the rivers but such rude craft as the traveler might 
construct for his own convenience ; and when we take 
into consideration the difficulty of transporting pro- 
visions and ammunition through a wild region, the suc- 
cessful expedition of Colonel Clark [in capturing the 
Illinois towns] will present itself as a brilliant military 
achievement." * 

Strictly speaking, Clark did not travel, on his 
journey from Williamsburg to Kaskaskia, through 
any portion of a country inhabited by Indians; and 
it can hardly be said he marched into a garrisoned 
town when he reached the objective point of his expe- 
dition. Not much difficulty could have been experi- 
enced by the recruits in reaching Redstone; and the 
force there collected dropped down the Monongahela 
and Ohio to the Kentucky rendezvous with little trou- 
ble and in boats far from being rude in their construc- 
tion. From the islands to just above "Old Fort Mas- 
sac," with oars doubled-manned, surely there was not 

* Hall : Romance of Western History, p. 296. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 127 

much hardship encountered. Thence, however, to Kas- 
kaskia there was real suffering for the last two days 
from hunger. Now, in all this journey from its begin- 
ning to its end, with the surrender of the Illinois vil- 
lagers, no events happened — no difficulties were over- 
come — that could stamp the enterprise thus far as "a 
brilliant military achievement." But, it may be pre- 
mised, Clark's campaign was far from being ended. 
Heroic valor — "military achievement" of acknowl- 
edged force (to say the least) — is yet to be chron- 
icled; and under such circumstances was success 
finally assured, that it cannot fail to be considered 
almost beyond the reach of human energy. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE occupation of Kaskaskia and Cahokia by 
Clark's force was at once followed by friendly 
demonstrations from the Spanish side of the 
Mississippi. This was so marked that Clark opened 
a correspondence with Fernando de Leyba, ''Captain 
in the Infantry Regiment of Louisiana, Commander- 
in-chief and Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Louisi- 
ana, headquarters at St. Louis.'^ "Our friends, the 
Spaniards," says Clark, "did everything in their power 
to convince me of their friendship."* 

It was now that Vincennes began to engage no 
small share of Colonel Clark's attention ; and why not, 
seeing that the Illinois towns had submitted to his au- 
thority? He knew that the people there had learned 
of his presence in Kaskaskia, but he concluded he was 
by no means able to march against them, although 
Abbott, the lieutenant-governor, had left the place. 
The American commander was determined, if possi- 
ble, to conquer them in a peaceable way (as they were 
now left to themselves) by winning their affections. 
But he must first know their sentiments — what their 
feelings were toward the Americans. 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 35. "Clark sent the Lieutenant-Governor [De Leyba] 
a number of letters. {Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
35.] They are in Spain as are all of De Leyba's papers and 
probably have not been inspected for three quarters of a 
century. [Brymner: Report on Canadian Archives 1883, 
p. 14.] Who can speak as to their contents?" [Oscar W. 
Collett, in Magazine of Western History, vol. I, (Feb., 1885) 
p. 273.] 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 129 

To execute his plans, the Colonel pretended he was 
about to send an express to the Falls of the Ohio for a 
body of troops to join him at a certain place in order 
to attack the town. This soon had the desired ef- 
fect. Advocates immediately appeared before Clark 
in its behalf. Father Gibault, as if to convince the 
latter of his attachment, offered to undertake to win 
the village for the American commander if permitted 
to make the trial, only requesting that a few Kaskas- 
kians go with him. There seemed to be no doubt 
among the people of their being able peaceably to gain 
the inhabitants there to the Colonel's interest. Gi- 
bault gave Clark to understand that, although he had 
nothing to do with temporal business, he would hint to 
his friends upon the Wabash enough to be very con- 
ducive to successs. 

Gibault named as his associate, a Dr. Le Font. 
The whole plan, which was perfectly agreeable to 
Clark and was what he was then secretly aiming at 
and had been for some days, was immediately settled. 
The priest and the doctor with a small retinue (of 
whom one was an American spy) started on the four- 
teenth, going on horseback"^ and taking with them in- 
structions to be followed in case of success, also an 
address to the inhabitants of Vincennes, authorizing 
them -to garrison their town themselves, to convince 
them of the confidence reposed in them by the Amer- 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Aug. 8, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. It is also, stated in a letter written by him to the 
General on the 11th. It seems that Gibault before starting 
went to Cahokia, going thence by way of Kaskaskia, which 
he left on the 14th. It was from Cahokia that he started on 
horseback, but there is no doubt he journeyed from Kaskaskia 
in the same way. 



130 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

ican commander. Verbal instructions from Governor 
Henry, as we have seen, authorized this attempt, now 
that the lUinois was reduced, even had it been deter- 
mined to use coercive measures. 

Upon the arrival of the party at Vincennes, a short 
time was spent by the Kaskaskians in explaining mat- 
ters to its inhabitants. They (with the exception of a 
few disaffected ones, mostly traders, who from interest 
were attached to Governor Abbot and the government 
he had represented on the Wabash, and who imme- 
diately left the country) acceded to the proposal to 
make common cause with America. The citizens went 
in a body to the church where the oath of allegiance 
was administered to them in the most solemn manner. 
An officer was elected. Fort Sackville immediately 
garrisoned, and the American flag displayed to the as- 
tonishment of the Indians. Hamilton subsequently 
learned from an Indian report that the British flag left 
there by Abbott was, when taken down, wrapped 
around a large stone and thrown into the Wabash."^ 

The savages in Vincennes were informed that their 
old father, the French King, had come to life again. 
A Piankeshaw chief of great influence among his na- 
tion, known as the ''Big Gate," or "Big Door," and 
called by the Indians ''The Grand Door to the Wa- 
bash" (controlled, as he did, the lower portion — the 
"gate" or "door" — of the river), received a spirited 

* Proceedings of the Rebels at Vincennes, as Related to 
Lieut. Gov'r Hamilton by Neegik, an Ottawa War Chief, 
Oct. 14, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. But this Indian report 
confounded the subsequent arrival of a "rebel" officer to 
take comrnand of Fort Sackville, with the previous visit of 
Gibault when the British flag was taken down and, the 
American flag raised. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 131 

compliment from Father Gibault, who was much liked 
by the Indians ; and, through the chief's father, known 
as "Old Tobacco,"* Big Door returned the compli- 
ment, which was soon followed by a "talk" and a belt 
of wampum. t 

Gibault and party, accompanied by several gentle- 
men from Vincennes^ returned to Kaskaskia about the 
first of August "with the joyful news. "J 

There was one who did not go back with Gibault. 
This was the American spy, Simon Kenton, who had 
with him dispatches from Clark to Colonel Bowman, 
the County Xieutenant of Kentucky county, giving a 
full recital of his success in the Illinois. Kenton was 
also enjoined to make a close observation of all the 
incidents connected with the visit of Father Gibault 
and send back an account of the same to the American 
commandant at Kaskaskia. This was done and Ken- 
ton then made his way to Kentucky, reaching Colonel 
Bowman at Harrodsburg in thirteen days from Vin- 
cennes. After delivering his dispatches, he went to 
Boonesborough. 

But the journey of Kenton from Kaskaskia to 
Harrodsburg, by way of Vincennes, has been, in many 
particulars, distorted in the Annals of the West. The 
principal errors to be noted in these traditionary ac- 
counts are, that Kenton reached Vincennes before Gi- 
bault; that he reconnoitered the place undiscovered; 

* See Appendix, Note LXVI. 

t Compare Western Annals, pp. 173, 174. 

X See also as to the winning of Vincennes to the Amer- 
ican interests, under management of Gibault, Appendix, 
Note L. 



132 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and that he then sent Clark a statement of what had 
come under his observation.* 

Soon after his release, the merchant, Cerre', at St. 
Louis, became uneasy that his family and property 
should be kept under guard at Kaskaskia; and fear- 
ing to venture into Clark's power without a safe-con- 
duct, procured the recommendation of the Spanish 
Lieutenant-Governor at the first mentioned place, also 
that of the commandant at St. Genevieve, — supported 
by the influence of the greater part of the citizens of 
both places. It was all in vain. The American com- 
mander peremptorily refused giving him the desired 
security, at the same time intimating that he wished 
to hear no more such applications. He understood, 
he said, that Cerre' was a sensible man, and if he were 
innocent of the charge of inciting the Indians against 
the Americans, he need not be afraid of delivering 
himself up. Backwardness would only increase sus- 
picion against him. 

Cerre' soon crossed over from St. Louis and boldly 
repaired to Clark's headquarters in Kaskaskia, and in- 
quired of the Colonel what crimes he stood charged 
with. He was informed that he was accused of en- 
couraging the Indians in their murders and devasta- 
tions on the American frontier. This, Cerre' flatly de- 
nied and declared his willmgness to meet any such 
charges at once. His accusers were sent for, but up- 
on confronting the accused they had little to say — in 
short, they could bring no proof whatever against him, 
and the French merchant was honorably acquitted and 
his family and goods immediately restored to him. It 

* See Appendix, Note L. Consult as to a fiction concern- 
ing a contemplated attack from Kaskaskia, Vincennes and 
Detroit against Kentucky. Appendix, Note LL 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 133 

is hardly necessary to add that he at once took the 
oath of allegiance and became a most valuable friend 
to America."^ 

While Gibault was making a bloodless conquest 
of Vincennes for Virginia, Clark, at Kaskaskia was 
"exceedingly engaged" in regulating matters in the 
Illinois. Three months, the period for which his men 
had enlisted, had expired. Something must be done 
and done speedily. The commander was, at the time, 
at a great loss how to act — how far, indeed, he might 
venture to strain his authority. His instructions were 
silent on many important points ; for it was, of course, 
impossible for Governor Henry and his Council to 
foresee all the events that had taken place- To aban- 
don the country and all the prospects that opened to 
view for the good of America, for want of instructions 
in certain cases, the Colonel thought would amount to 
a reflection on the Government which had entrusted 
him with charge of the expedition. He resolved, 
therefore, to usurp all the authority necessary to re- 
tain the fruits of his success. 

'T now found myself," says the commandant, "in 
possession of the whole [of the Illinois and of Vin- 
cennes], in a country where I could do more real ser- 
vice than I expected, which occasioned my situation to 
be the more disagreeable,, as I wanted men ;" for the 

* Mann Butler, in The Western Journal, vol. XII, 
pp. 168, 240, 241. Mention of Cerre is made in Rocheblave 
to Carleton, [Aug. 3?], 1778 — Haldimand MSS., where, 
it is intimated, he was then on good terms with Clark. 
[As to Butler's account to be found in his History of Ken- 
tucky, of the meeting between Clark and Cerre see Appendix, 
Note LII. In a subsequent note (LVIII) will be found 
also opinions from British accounts of the treatment accorded 
to Cerre and Rocheblave in putting them in irons.] 



134 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

greatest part of those under his command "was for re- 
turning, as they were no longer engaged." Surround- 
ing him, though at a considerable distance away, most 
of them, were numerous nations of savages, whose 
minds had been poisoned by the English; notwith- 
standing this many of his men, whose term of enlist- 
ment had expired, insisted on leaving the service. 
"It was," says Clark, "with difficulty that I could sup- 
port the dignity that was essential to give my orders 
the force that was necessary" — such was the dis- 
quietude of his mind. 

The Colonel soon had about one hundred of his 
men reenlisted for eight months, but this was brought 
about by "great presents and promises" only. To give 
color to his remaining with so few troops, he made a 
feint of returning to the Falls of the Ohio, as though 
he had sufficient confidence in the people to trust them 
with the management of affairs, hoping they would 
remonstrate against his leaving. This they did in the 
warmest terms. They represented the necessity of 
troops remaining at Kaskaskia, declaring they were 
fearful if the town was vacated and the commander 
returned to the Falls with his men that the English 
would again possess the country. So the Colonel, 
seemingly by their request, consented to remain with 
two companies — though he hardly thought (he pre- 
tended) that so many were necessary. If more were 
wanted, he declared, he could get them at any, time 
from the Falls, where, the citizens wefe made to be- 
lieve, there was a considerable garrison. 

As soon as possible (it was probably the fourth of 
August) the Commander sent off all those — seventy 
in number — who "could not be got to stay," — Wil- 
liam Linn taking charge of the returning troops, all of 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 135 

whom were to be discharged at the Falls, He also 
took with him an order to have the post there re- 
moved from the island to the mainland on the Ken- 
tucky side of the river. This was, in reality, the 
founding of the present city of Louisville. _ And while 
Clark is not entitled to the distinction of having been 
the founder of Kentucky so frequently given him, he 
is properly credited with being the father of its chief 
city. 

Captain Montgomery was, at the same time, or- 
dered to proceed to Williamsburg with letters en- 
trusted to him, directed to the Virginia governor, giv- 
ing a full account of the success thus far of the expe- 
dition ; the situation of affairs at the date of writing ; 
and the necessity there was for more troops. With 
him, Rocheblave was sent a prisoner (there were none 
others) to the Virginia seat of government.* 

* Monnette's History of the Mississippi Valley vol. I, 
p. 422; Rocheblave to Carleton, Aug. 3, 1778 — Haldimand 
MSS. ; Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 36, 37. ""I 
came off with the volunteers, having instructions from Colonel 
(now General) Clark to wait on his Excellency, the Governor 
[of Virginia] , as soon as possible with letters and verbal 
messages." {Montgomery to the Board of Commissioners 
for the Settlement of Western Accts., Feb. 22, 1783 — Calen- 
dar of Virginia State Papers, Vol. Ill, p. 441; Mason's 
Early Chicago, p. 352.) That Montgomery probably started 
on the fourth of August, is to be inferred from the lettec 
of Rocheblave to Carleton of the day previous. "As Clark 
had secured the friendship of the Spanish commandant at 
St. Louis, he felt secure from molestation for the present, 
and sent a party home to Virginia with the news of his 
bloodless conquest." — Fiske: The American Revolution, 
vol. II, p. 106. It is evident, however, that the friendship 
spoken of had nothing to do with the Colonel's act in sending 
off any of his men. Mr. Mason, in his excellent work, 



136 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The throwing of Rocheblave in irons upon his 
capture in Fort Gage was not the only harsh treatment 
accorded him : there was a confiscation of much of his 
private property, — his slaves in particular being sold 
for five hundred pounds sterling, which was distrib- 
uted among the troops as prize money. It was an un- 
warranted proceeding. 

The day before Rocheblave's departure for Wil- 
liamsburg, he ''stole a moment" from his guards in 
order to write Carleton, giving him information as to 
his having been captured by ''Mr. Clark, the self- 
styled Colonel." 

"The majority of the inhabitants," continued 
Rocheblave, "knowing the maneuvers which had oc- 
curred on the lower part of the Mississippi, were re- 
solved to defend themselves; but the dealings of our 
neighbors, the Spaniards, and the abuse of the treach- 
erous English. . . prevented them from doing it. 
There remained to me^, for a resource, Mr. Legras, 
who prepared himself with forty men to come and join 
me from Fort Vincennes, where he is captain of mi- 
litia; but the rebels having landed on the [north side 
of the] Ohio sixty leagues from here, crossed the neck 
of land which separates that river from this place, 
and prevented that." 

"Uselessly," further wrote the prisoner, "I have, 
for two years past, been representing the necessity of 
cutting off the communication between the Ohio and 
the Mississippi carried on with the Spaniards. It is 

Early Chicago and Illinois, p. 373, inadvertantly says that 
''Clark sent those of his men whom he could not persuade 
to reenlist to carry letters to Gov. Patrick Henry at Williams- 
burg and with them went Rocheblave across the Alleghanies 
in custody," — citing Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 37. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 137 

open; and I hope that there does not result more in- 
convenience than I had predicted. 

"I beg your Excellency," added the now disconso- 
late writer, "to pay the expenses for which I have 
drawn on Mr. Dunn. I entreat you to have pity on 
the family of Captain Hugh Lord left with mine, 
without resource, their effects and mine having been, 
for the most part seized and sold. I leave here a wife 
and seven children deprived of the first necessities of 
life. They [The Americans] say that I depart to- 
morrow for the Congress. I recommend myself to 
you to be exchanged. I say nothing to you of my 
prison, which there is nothing like in Algiers. I have 
lost between Mr. Lord and myself in slaves, animals, 
goods and utensils, nine thousand piastres. I hope 
that your Excellency will have regard for our fami- 
lies and will cause them to receive some aid by the way 
of Mr. De Feive, merchant of Montreal, wht) could 
give his orders to M. Cerre', a merchant here. I have 
neither a good pen nor any other paper. Your Excel- 
lency will excuse a prisoner who writes upon his 
knees. Sick as he is, the time has come when he must 
depart from the country."* 

Just before Montgomery's departure, Captain 
Bowman returned to Kaskaskia from Cahokia, leaving 
a guard at the last mentioned place on account of its 
remoteness from the other towns, and because the In- 

* Rocheblave to Carleton Aug. 3, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. (See Mason's Early Chicago and Illinois, pp. 418, 
419.) But Rocheblave, as already shown, was not sent a 
prisoner to Congress, but to the Virginia authorities. (As 
to Rocheblave being conducted to Williamsburg, see Appen- 
dix, Note LIII.) 



138 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

dians, not far away, were constantly receiving sup- 
plies from the British.* 

Clark now commenced raising recruits in the set- 
tlements. Many of the young people seemed fond of 
the service, and "the different companies soon got 
complete." At Cahokia, where the stone building — 
really a fortification, as already suggested — had been 
taken possession of and named "Fort Bowman," was 
a garrison to be commanded by Captain Bowman ; one 
was also formed at Kaskaskia to occupy Fort Clark, as 
Fort Gage was now named,t and was put in charge 
of Captain John Williams. In Vincennes, Fort Sack- 
ville was still in possession of the local militia with the 
American flag flying over the fortification ; but, as will 
hereafter be shown, the command of the post was soon 
turned over to one of Clark's officers. 

Now that the Colonel had arranged matters so far 
as the military was concerned to the best of his ability, 
he next gave his attention to Indian affairs. This was 
of great importance, as there were a number of na- 
tions to the northward and northeastward that would 
be, in the nature of the case, a menace to him, as many 
of them were already at war on the side of Great Brit- 
ain against the United States. But the friendship of 
the French and the Spaniards to the "Big Knives" 
confused them. They counseled with the French 
traders to know what they had better do now that the 
American flag was flying at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. 

* See Appendix to our narrative, Note LIII, just cited. 

t The earliest information of the changing the name 
of Fort Gage to Fort Clark is found in the so-called "Bow- 
man's Journal" (March 15, 1779). As to particulars con- 
cerning this Journal see Note CXXXII, in Appendix to our 
narrative. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 139 

These traders were not slow in advising them to make 
peace with the Virginians. Three tribes — the three 
nearest to the IlHnois towns — did so at once ; they 
were the Kaskaskias, the Peorias, and the Michi- 
gamies. 

It was the opinion of Clark that Indian treaties (as 
before that time conducted) had not been carried on 
by the whites in a proper manner ; — soft speeches and 
presents, in his judgment, should give place to a stern 
demeanor and a fearless attitude, to be tempered with 
kindness only when an exhibition of it would tend to 
conciliate. 'Tt may appear otherwise to you/' said the 
Colonel, in writing to a friend, some months after, 
"but I always thought we took the wrong method of 
treating with Indians, and I strove as soon as possible 
to make myself acquainted with the French and Span- 
ish mode, which must be preferable to ours, otherwise 
they could not possibly have such great influence 
among them. When thoroughly acquainted with it, 
it exactly coincided with my own idea, and I resolved 
to follow that same rule as near as circumstances 
would permit."* 

In after years, Clark wrote: "I had always been 
convinced that our general conduct with the Indians 
was wrong; that inviting them to treaties was consid- 
ered by them in a different manner to what we ex- 
pected, and imputed by them to fear ; and that giving 
them presents confirmed it. I resolved to guard 
against this, and I took good pains to make myself 
acquainted fully with the French and Spanish methods 
of treating Indians, and with the manners, genius and 
disposition of the Indians in general. As in this quar- 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois ^ 



140 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

ter [the Illinois] they had not yet been spoiled by us, 
I was resolved that they should not be.""^ 

The Colonel soon held a great council at Cahokia. 
*'It was with astonishment," he says, ''that we viewed 
the amazing number of savages that soon flocked into 
the town of Cahokia to treat for peace and to hear 
what the 'Big Knives' had to say ; — many of them 
came from five hundred miles distant." There were 
Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawattamies, Winnebagoes, 
Sacs and Foxes, and a number of other nations,t all 
being east of the Mississippi and many of them at war 
against the Americans. Clark "was under some ap- 
prehension among such a number of devils ;" and it 
proved to be just, for the second or third night, a 
party of Winnebagoes and others endeavored to force 
by the guards into his lodgings to bear him off, but 
were happily detected and made prisoners by the 
alacrity of the sergeant. The town took the alarm 
and was immediately under arms, which convinced -the 
savages that the French were in the x\merican in- 
terest. 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
131. It is evident that Clark exaggerates somewhat as to 
his preparations to deal with the savages, as, from what 
follows, it is certain he had not time to accomplish so 
much before entering upon negotiations with them. One 
of his assertions, however, throws light upon what is not 
sufficiently explained in his letter to Mason; and that is, 
that he was opposed to inviting Indians to treaties. 

fFor "Chippewas," Clark writes "Chipoways ;" for 
"Ottawas," he gives "Ottowas;" for "Pottawattamies,' he 
has "Petawatomies." Instead of "Winnebagoes," he gives 
the more ancient name of "Puans." He has "Sayges" which 
is but a synonym for "Sacs." "Tanways" are given, but 
these were "Ottawas." He writes "Mawmies" for "Miamies" 
or "Miamis." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 141 

The Colonel was determined to follow the princi- 
ple he had at first acted upon, which was, to show a 
bold and fearless front to the savages ; he therefore 
immediately ordered the principal chiefs to be put in 
irons by the French militia. But the former insisted 
that it was only to see whether the French would take 
part with the Americans or not ; that they had no ill 
design. This treatment of some of their greatest 
chiefs caused great confusion among the assembled 
Indians. The prisoners, with great submission, so- 
licited to speak to the Colonel, but were refused. 
They then made all the effort they possibly could with 
the other Indians (who were much at a loss to do, as 
there were strong guards through every quarter of the 
town) to get to speak to him; but he told the whole 
that he believed they were a set of villians, that they 
had joined the English, and that they were welcome 
to continue in the cause they had espoused, but that 
he (Clark) was a man and a warrior; that he did not 
care who was his friends or foes ; and that he had no 
more to say to them. Such conduct, by the Colonel, 
alarmed the whole town; but he was sensible that it 
would gain him no more enemies than he had already ; 
and that, if they afterward solicited for terms, it would 
be more sincere, and probably have a lasting good ef- 
fect on the Indian nations. Distrust was visible in 
the countenance of almost every person during the 
latter part of the day. 

To show the Indians that he disregarded them, 
Clark remained in his lodging in the town about one 
hundred yards from the fort, seemingly without a 
guard ; but he kept fifty men concealed in a parlor ad- 
joining, and the garrison under arms. During the 
night there was great counselling among the savages. 



142 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

But to make them have the greater idea of his indif- 
ference about them, he assembled a number of gentle- 
men and ladies and danced nearly the whole night. 
In the morning he summoned the different nations to 
a grand council. 

As a preliminary, Clark released the chiefs he had 
ironed and invited them to attend the meeting, that 
he might speak to them in presence of the whole as- 
semblage. After the usual ceremonies were over, he 
produced a bloody belt of wampum and made a speech 
upon it. 

"I told the chiefs that were guilty," says the Col- 
onel, ''that I was sensible their nation was engaged in 
favor of the English, and if they thought it right, I did 
not blame them for it, and exhorted them to behave 
like men and support the cause they had undertaken ; 
that I was sensible that the English Vv ere weak and 
wanted help ; that I scorned to take any advantage of 
them by persuading their friends to desert them ; that 
there were no people but Americans but would put 
them to death for their late behavior ; and that it con- 
vinced me of their being my enemies." 

**But it was beneath the character of Americans," 
continued Clark, ''to take such revenge ; that they 
were at liberty to do as they pleased, but they should 
behave like men and not do any mischief until three 
days after they left the town ; that I should have them 
escorted safely out of the village, and after that expi- 
ration of time, if they did not choose to return and 
fight me, they might find Americans enough by going 
farther." 

And the Colonel added "that if they did not want 
their own women and children massacred, they must 
leave off killing ours and only fight men under arms. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 143 

which was commendable ; that there was the war belt : 
we should soon see which of us would make it the 
most bloody. I then told them it was customary 
among all brave men to treat their enemies well when 
assembled as we were; that I should give them pro- 
visions and rum while they staid; but, by their be- 
havior, I could not conceive that they deserved that 
appellation, and I did not care how soon they left me 
after that day."* 

Clark observed that their countenances and atti- 
tude favored his real design ; for the whole looked like 
a parcel of criminals. The other nations rose and 
made many submissive speeches, excusing themselves 
for their conduct in a very pretty manner. The C0I7 
onel thought there was something noble in their senti- 
ments. They alleged that they were persuaded to war 
by the English and made to harbor a wrong opinion of 
the Americans; but they now believed them to be war- 
riors and could wish to take them by the hand as 
brothers ; that they did not speak from their lips only, 
but that the American commander would find that 
they spoke from their hearts ; and that they hoped he 
would pity their blindness and their women and chil- 
dren. They also solicited pardon for their friends that 
had been guilty of the late crime. 

The Colonel told them he had instructions from 
the Great Man of the Big Knives not to ask peace 
from any people, but to offer peace and war and let 
them take their choice, except a few of the worst 
nations to whom he was to grant no peace ; for, as the 
English could fight no longer, he was fearful his 
young warriors would get rusty without they could 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 44. 



144 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 

find somebody to fight. He then presented them with 
a peace belt and a war belt, and told them to take their 
choice, — excepting* those who had been imprisoned. 
They, with a great deal of seeming joy, took the belt 
of peace. Clark then told them he would defer smok- 
ing the peace pipe until he heard that they had called 
in all their warriors, and then he would conclude a 
treaty with all the ceremony necessary for so import- 
ant an occasion. 

The savages immediately solicited of Clark some 
persons to go with them to be witnesses of their con- 
duct; and they hoped the Colonel would favor their 
guilty friends. But this the American commander re- 
fused, by which he was pleased to see them set 
trembling as persons frightened at the apprehension 
of the worst fate. Their speaker then rose and made 
a most lamentable speech (such as Clark wished for) 
begging mercy for their women and children; for the 
French gentlemen of Cahokia had given them lessons 
that favored the Colonel's purpose. Clark recom- 
mended them to go to their English . father, who had 
told them he was strong ; perhaps he might help them, 
as he had promised ; that they could blame no person 
but themselves when they should, with the English, 
be given to the dogs to eat. 

When the Indian orators had tried their eloquence 
to no purpose, they pitched on two young men to be put 
to death as an atonement for the rest, hoping that would 
pacify Clark. It was surprising to see how submis- 
sively the two presented themselves to suffer for their 
friends, — "advancing into the middle of the floor, 
sitting down by each other, and covering their heads 
with their blankets to receive the tomahawk." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 145 

This submission at once conciliated the Colonel. 
"For a few moments," he declares, 'T was so agitated 
that I do not doubt but I should, without reflection, 
have killed the first man that would have offered to 
hurt them."* It is needless to say the two were not 
tomahawked. 

Clark obtained such a treaty as he wished for, con- 
firmed by all present; for peace with all the savages 
was what he wanted,, if it could be secured on his own 
terms. He came to an understanding with represent- 
atives of not less than ten nations. This carried 
American influence, for the time, far up the Missis- 
sippi, and up the Illinois to the very borders of Lake 
Michigan, — five tribes, the Winnebagoes, Sacs, 
Foxes, Pottawattamies and Miamies, having pre- 
viously received presents from the English and taken 
up the hatchet against the Americans. f 

"In a short time," Clark subsequently wrote con- 
cerning the negotiations with the Indians at Cahokia 
at that period, and what followed immediately there- 
after, "our influence reached the Indians on the St. 
Joseph and the border of Lake Michigan. The 

*Id., pp. 44-46. Dillon in copying Clark's Memoir is 
silent as to this whole transact'on; but Butler {History of 
Kentucky, pp. 72-75) gives the particulars, although, in 
some instances, varying considerably from Clark in his 
letter to Mason, which, as it is nearly contemporary with 
the event related, is the better authority. (As to Butler's 
account, see Appendix to our narrative. Note LIV.) 

t Patrick Henry to the Virginia Delegates in Congress, 
Nov. 14, 1778. (See Butler's Kentucky (2d ed.) , p. 532; 
also Tyler's Life of Patrick Henry, p. 230, 231; and Henry's 
Patrick Henry, vol. II, p. 16 and vol. Ill, p. 200.) 

10 



146 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. - 

French gentlemen, at the different posts that we now 
had possession of, engaged warmly in our interest. 
They appeared to vie with each other in promoting 
the business ; and through the means of their corre- 
spondence, trading among the Indians, and otherwise, 
in a short time the Indians of the various tribes in- 
habiting the region of the Illinois, came in great num- 
bers to Cahokia, in order to make treaties of peace 
with us. From the information they generally got 
from the French gentlemen (whom they implicitly 
believed) respecting us, they were truly alarmed; and, 
consequently we were visited by the greater part of 
them, without any invitation from us: of course we 
had greatly the advantage, in making use of such 
language as suited our interest. Those treaties, which 
commenced about the last of August, and continued 
between three and four weeks, were probably con- 
ducted in a way different from any other known in 
America at that time." He declares he began the 
business fully prepared, having copies of British 
treaties in his possession.* 

Clark did not fail to make the most of his success. 
"I sent," he declares, "agents into every quarter." To 
a chief of the Winnebagoes, he gave this writing as a 
pledge of his friendship: 

* Clark's Memoir. The writer (already cited) in the 
North American Review, vol, XLIII, p. 21, says, concerning 
these treaties : "By means of such cautious management 
[as employed by the Colonel of Cahokia in his dealing with 
the savages there] Clark succeeded in undermining the British 
influence among the Indian tribes from the Mississippi to the 
Lakes, and impressing them with a respect for the Americans 
hitherto unknown." But this "undermining," among many 
of the tribes, proved, it may be promised, of short duration. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 147 

"By George Rogers Clark, Esq., Colonel and Com- 
mandant of the Eastern Illinois and its Dependencies, 
etc, etc.^ etc. 

"Whereas Courachon, Chief of the Puans [Win- 
nebagoes], and his nation living at the Rock river 
have entered into alliance and friendship with the 
United States of America, and promised to be true 
and faithful subjects to the same ; 

"In consequence whereof, I have given him this 
writing as a remicmbrance that he and his said nation 
are to treat all the subjects olthe said States of Amer- 
ica with friendship and receive all those they may 
meet with as their brothers. 

"Given under my hand and seal at Fort Bowman, 
in the Illinois, this 22d Aug't, 1778. 

G. R. Clark, [Seal]" 

And, in nearly the same words, as will be seen, he 
afterward gladdened the heart of a Fox chief: 

"By George Rogers Clark, Esq., Colonel of the 
Virginia troops and Comamndant of the Eastern Illi- 
nois and its Dependencies : 

"Whereas, Kinaytounak [written, also, Kindi- 
nack], a chief of the Fox nation of Indians, has en- 
tered into a friendly alliance with the United States of 
America and promised to be a true and faithful sub- 
ject thereto; — 

"In consideration of this, I give him this writing 
as a remembrance, he agreeing that he and his nation 
will treat all the subjects of the said States with 
friendship, and receive them at all times as their 
brothers. 



148 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

''Given under my hand and seal, at Fort Bowman, 
in Cahokia, this 28th day of August, 1778. 

''G. R. Clark. 

''[Seal]:''' 

Much fatigued because of his labor with the In- 
dians, Clark, after about five weeks absence, returned 
to Kaskaskia. He left Captain Bowman not only in 
charge of the garrison but of affairs generally at Ca- 
hokia. In attending to matters in which he was en- 
trusted, the Colonel declares the Captain "did himself 
much honor." 

On arriving at Kaskaskia, Clark found everything 
as well as he could have expected. Afterward, "the 
great Blackbird, Chippewa chief. . . sent a belt of 
peace to Colonel Clark, influenced, he [the Colonel] 
supposes, by the dread of Detroit's being reduced by 
American arms."t It seems that, subsequently, the 
American commander sought an interview with this 
Indian and obtained from him every assurance of fu- 
ture friendship ; but, what promised much because of 
the chief's power over his nation, proved, in the end, 
of little value, on account of British influence. 

*Haldimand MSS. But, it may be said, both these 
chiefs soon returned to their British allegilance, giving over 
these tokens to the English. (See concerning Clark's Council 
with the Indian tribes at Cahokia, Appendix, Note LV.) 

t Patrick Henry to the Virginia Delegates in Congress, 
Nov. 14, 1778. Blackbird's interview (for this, it is claimed, 
actually took place) with Clark, is described with minuteness 
by Butler in his History of Kentucky (see Appendix to our 
narrative, Note LVI). But his assertion that the conference 
was the result of Clark having first made advances to the 
chief, is clearly erroneous. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 149 

Having now "fixed matters" so as to enable him to 
have ''a moment's leisure/' the Colonel gave his af- 
fairs deeper reflection than he had before attempted. 
His situation and weakness convinced him that more 
depended on his own behavior and conduct than on all 
the troops under his command — far removed as they 
were, from the body of his country, and among French, 
Spaniards and numerous bands of Indians ; all watch- 
ing his actions, and ready to receive impressions favor- 
able or otherwise of the Americans, which might be 
hard to remove and which would, perhaps, produce 
lasting good or ill effects. It was now that he saw his 
work was only begun; and he naturally examined 
every circumstance that had transpired since leaving 
Williamsburg, fixing upon proper resolutions, so that 
if misfortune or loss of interest should come, it might 
be chargeable to want of judgments only. 

It was, as the Colonel looked upon it, of the great- 
est consequence to have strict subordination among 
his troops and this he soon effected. It gave him 
much pleasure to harrangue them on parade, all "raw 
and undisciplined" as they were. He told them of his 
resolutions and the necessity of strict duty as a means 
of their own preservation. They returned answer that 
it was their zeal for their country that induced them 
to engage in the service; that they were sensible of 
their situation and danger and that nothing could con- 
duce more to their safety and happiness than good or- 
der, which they would try to adhere to, and they hoped 
that no favor would be shown those who would neg- 
lect it. In a short time, his garrison in Fort Clark, 
was in a high state of efficiency — "perhaps," declares 
the enthusiastic commander, "no garrison could boast 
of better order or of a more valuable set of men." 



150 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Clark now became aware that Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor Hamilton at Detroit, finding British influence on 
the wane among many of the Indian nations, was 
sending out messengers through their country (so far 
as they dare venture) to awaken a renewed spirit in 
them for the cause of Britain. But he felt assured 
that that officer was redoubling his presents and in- 
sinuations to little purpose; as he (the Colonel) had a 
number of persons well acquainted with the Indians he 
had treated with, to reside among them; and he had 
spies continually in and about Detroit for some time. 
However, the American commander under estimated 
the potency of Hamilton's Indian diplomacy and of 
his largeness dealt out with a liberal hand.* Besides, 
there were many tribes to the eastward and north- 
ward of the Wabash and Illinois rivers that had not 
made treaties with the Colonel and were now in close 
alliance with the British — closer, in fact, than he 
thought possible, or, at least, had knowledge of. 

Clark spared no effort within his reach to concil- 
iate the Illinois people and by so doing to bring them 
heartily to espouse American interests. "They," he 
said, "know no other kind of government than what 
might be expected from the lust of power, pride and 
avarice of the officers commanding in that country, 
whose will was a law to the whole and certain destruc- 
tk»i to those who disobeyed the most trifling com- 
mand, — nothing could have been more to my advan- 
tage, as I could temper the government as I pleased; 
and every new privilege appeared to them as fresh 
laurels to the American cause. 

* But the Lieutenant Governor never offered a stated 
reward for scalps. (See History of the Girtys, pp. 65, 69, 70.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 151 

"I, by degrees, laid aside every unnecessary re- 
striction they labored under. As I was convinced 
that it was the mercenary views of their former gov- 
ernors that established these restrictions, paying no 
regard to the happiness of the people and those cus- 
toms, which, when strictly observed, was most con- 
ducive to good order, I made it a point to guard the 
happiness and tranquility of the inhabitants, suppos- 
ing that their happy change reaching the ears of their 
brothers and countrymen on the lakes and about De- 
troit, would be paving my way to that place and have a 
good effect on the Indians. I soon found it had the 
desired effect, for the greatest part of the French gen- 
tlemen and traders among the Indians declared for us ; 
and many letters of congratulation were sent from 
Detroit to the gentlemen of the Illinois, which gave 
me much pleasure."* 

Between the American commander in Kaskaskia 
and Don Leyba at St. Louis, there was the most cor- 
dial understanding. The Spanish Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor omitted nothing in his power to prove his at- 
tachment to the Americans; and this, too, with such 
openness as to leave no doubt of his sincerity. "As I 
was never before in the company of a Spanish gentle- 
man," says Clark, "I was much surprised. Instead of 
finding that reserve thought peculiar to that nation, 
I here saw not the least symptom of it. Freedom al- 
most to excess gave me the greatest pleasure."t 

"There lately arrived from New Orleans, wrote the 
Colonel to Governor Henry, the middle of September, 

* Clark to Mason. — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 
49, 50. 

t Id., pp. 46, 47. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note 
LVII.) 



152 HISTORY OP CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"dispatches from the Governor General to Mr. Leyba, 
Lieutenant-Governor, residing at St. Louis, which 
[dispatches] brought, [contained] a parcel for the 
Commercial Committee and Congress, with instruc- 
tions to send it by express, except it could be given 
into the hands of an officer belonging to the States. A 
few days ago, I received these letters from Mr. Leyba, 
who requested that I would send them immediately, 
as he says they are of importance and require expedi- 
tion. Having a fit person [William Meyers], I have 
dispatched him with orders to make no delay until he 
arrives at Williamsburg. This express answers my 
purpose very well as an opportunity of informing 
you of what has past in this country since my last let- 
ers to you by Captain Montgomery, which I hope you 
have received." 

''Mr. Leyba," continues Clark, "requested of me 
that I would, by letters, present his compliments to 
you. This gentleman interests himself much in favor 
of the States — more so than I could have expected. 
He has offered me all the force that he could raise in 
case of an attack by the Indians from Detroit, as there 
is now no danger from any other quarter."* 

* Clark to the Governor of Virginia, Sept. 16, 1778. 
(Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. Ill, p. 194.) 



CHAPTER IX. 

BY the middle of January, 1778, Hamilton was 
enabled to inform Governor Carleton of the 
general success of his war parties sent out 
from Detroit; but in March, he wrote : "I am humbly 
of the opinion that it must be impossible for the Wa- 
bash Indians to be kept in order without a vast ex- 
pense in presents, or the presence of some troops. In- 
deed, in all those posts where the French had settled a 
trade and intercourse with the savages, an officer's 
presence, with troops, is much wanted ; for the minds 
of the Indians in remote posts are poisoned by the 
falsehoods and misrepresentations of the French. As 
to the Indians of the Wabash, they have been out of 
the way of knowing the power of the English; and, 
from a presumption of their own importance, will be 
arrogant and troublesome." However, he was grati- 
fied with the appearance of a large body of warriors 
— Mingoes, Shawanese and Delawares — but, as they 
had with them their wives and children, of course they 
were not ready to go upon the war-path against the 
Americans. "The savages," he wrote on the ninth of 
June, "will, in a few days, meet in Council."* And 
that Council proved to be one of the largest ever held 
with Indians in the West. It was opened at Detroit 
on the fourteenth. There were sixteen hundred and 
eighty-three Indians of both sexes present — Ottawas 
and Chippewas, Wyandots and Pottawattamies, Dela- 
wares and Shawanese, Miamis and Mingoes (the latter 

* Haldimand MSS. 

(153) 



154 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

consisting of Mohawks and Senecas) ; also Kickapoos, 
Weas and Mascoutins.* 

The burden of Governor Hamilton's speeches, to 
the large assemblage of Indians was an urgent re- 
quest that the good feeling of the year previous might 
be continued between them and his government, — 
made effective, upon the occasion, by a liberal bestowal 
of presents. The responses of the Indian orators were 
all re-assuring. So the claim of friendship was 
brightened between them ; war axes were given anew 
and sharpened ; war songs were sung ; and war dances 
danced. On the seventeenth of June, it is recorded: 
''Some Delawares are this day arrived, who are de- 
sirous of showing their intention of joining their 
brethren, and have presented me [Hamilton] two 
pieces of dried meat (scalps) ; one of which, I have 
given to the Chippeways, the other to the Miamis, that 
they may show in their villages the disposition of the 
Delawares." There is no possibility of mistaking this 
brutality; nor can it be denied that the Lieutenant- 
Governor, by this deed placed himself upon record as 
acting in a manner at once barbarous and blood- 
thirsty.f 

* British interests were represented by Lieutenant Gover- 
nor Hamilton; Lieutenant Governor Abbott (recently, as we 
have seen, from Vincennes) ; Jehu Hay, Indian Agent; Alex- 
ander McKee (a Tory who had fled from Pittsburgh) ; Cap- 
tain Lernoult and Lieutenant Caldwell, of the King's regiment ; 
William Tucker, Joseph Drouilland, Isidore Chesne, Duperon 
Baby, and Charles Beaubien, Interpreters. 

t The Record of the Council is a long one. There were 
meetings on the 14th, 15th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 29th of 
June, and on the 3d of July. Little did Hamilton imagine, 
at its close, that a hardy band of "rebels" was even then 
rapidly approaching Kaskaskia to nullify, as the events after- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 155 

The latter part of June General Frederick Haldi- 
man reached Quebec,* the successor of Carleton as 
Governor of the Province and Commander-in-Chief of 
the troops therein.f But it was a long distance from 
that town to Detroit, and of necessity the news of his 
arrival was unknown to Hamilton for a considerable 
time. 

In midsum.mer, there was a flying report at Detroit 
indicating that French and Spanish emissaries had 
been at St. Joseph, with belts and messages for the 
Pottawattamies at that place.J "Every intelligence/' 
wrote Hamilton to Carleton, "confirms what I had the 
honor to mention to your Excellencey about a year 
since, that the Spaniards are doing their utmost to 
alienate the savages, by promises and presents. By 
Mr. Rocheblave's letter to me, it appears that, hitherto, 
they have not gained their good will or confidence."§ 

wards disclosed, a good share of the proceedings of his 
Council. 

* Haldimand to Germain, June 30, 1778, from Quebec. — 
Haldimand MSS. 

t Germain to Haldimand, Aug. 7, 1777.— Haldimand MSS. 
The Province of which General Haldimand was appointed 
governor, was, of course, that of Quebec; and, as Com- 
mander-in-chief therein, his authority in a military (as well 
as civil) way extended over all the West, except, strictly 
speaking, the country (Kentucky) south of the Ohio. The 
General came to America first in 1757 as Lieutenant Colonel; 
was in the French and Indian War, being in Amherst's army 
at the capture of Montreal; and had command in Florida in 
1767. 

J Located on the right bank of the St. Joseph river, of 
Lake Michigan, not a great distance below the site of the 
present city of South Bend, Indiana. 

§ Hamilton to Carleton, August 6, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



156 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Two days after sending this information to Carle- 
ton, the Lieutenant-Governor received intelHgence of 
the success of Clark at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. The 
news was of the most startling character to him. He 
at once dispatched expresses with all possible speed to 
inform the Commander-in Chief at Quebec, Colonel 
Bolton at Niagara, and Major DePeyster (he was no 
longer Captain) at Michilimackinac. 

*'An express is arrived from the Illinois," is his 
language to Carleton, "with an account of the arrival 
of a party of rebels, in number about three hundred, 
who have taken Mr. De Rocheblave prisoner — have 
laid him in irons, and exacted an oath from the inhab- 
itants, binding them to obedience to the Congress.'*' 
"There is an officer," added Hamilton, "with thirty 
men detached by the rebels to Cahokia to receive the 
allegiance of that post; and I have no doubt that, by 
this time, they are at Vincennes, as when the express 
came away, one Gibault, a French priest, had his horse 
ready saddled to go thither from Cahokia to receive 
the submission of the inhabitants in the name of the reb- 
els . . Monsieur de Celoron sets off this day with 
belts for the Wabash Indians, whose deputies went 
from this place not long since, well satisfied with their 
reception, and took along with them three war 
belts." 

"I beg leave to observe to your Excellency," con- 
tinues the Lieutenant-Governor, "that, if the Wabash 
Indians are supported properly, it will entail a consid- 
erable expense ; at the same time, it is well known to 
your Excellency that these nations are the only bar- 
rier to be opposed at present to the inroads of the 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 157 

rebels and the attempts of the French and the Span- 
iards."* 

It was not long- before the Lieutenant-Governor 
again wrote Carleton. In speaking of Clark's force, 
he declared that it was reported to be three hundred 
strong ; — "but I cannot think they are so numerous," 
said he, "since, by what the express has related, it 
seems they are but a part of those marauders who left 
Fort Pitt last January under the orders of one Willing, 
a man who is of one of the best families in Philadel- 
phia, but of infamous character and debauched morals, 
a proper head for the band of robbers he has con- 
ducted down the Mississippi. I should judge that the 
repulse he met with at the Natchez, where one of his 
boats with six swivels was taken and thirty of his 
people killed or taken, joined to the news of four Eng- 
lish frigates being in the river's mouth, has altogether 
induced him to return without getting ammunition at 
New Orleans, which was probably the principal object 
of his expedition." 

"After having taken the submission and oaths of 
fidelity from the inhabitants at Kaskaskia," continues 
Hamilton, "they sent an officer and thirty men to Ca- 
hokia to do the like there; and, unless they fear the 
savages, [they] will probably send to Vincennes for the 
like purpose. I yesterday sent away Monsieur de 
Celoron with belts and speeches for the Miamis [lo- 

* Hamilton to Carleton, Aug. 8, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 

(For additional accounts, from the British side, of the 
treatment accorded Rocheblave, see Appendix, Note LVIII.) 
De Celoron, commandant at Wea, a post (one of the de- 
pendencies of Detroit) situated upon the Wabash, did not 
leave with belts for the Indians there until the tenth, as 
Hamilton the next day mentioned in another letter to Carleton. 



158 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

cated mostly at the head of the Maumee] and Wabash 
Indians and a particular order to have four iron can- 
non which are at Vincennes spiked and the trunnions 
knocked off ; for if they [the 'rebels'] think of fortify- 
ing themselves there, the very name of cannon would 
deter the Indians from attacking them."'^ 

Hamilton also again urged the necessity of sup- 
porting the Wabash Indians and how expedient it 
would be in case of a rupture with the Spaniards to 
keep [these] frontier Indians in good temper, — **who 
will no doubt be courted by them." "Their deputies," 
he repeated, "who were lately at Detroit, and took up 
the ax were well pleased with their reception and 
promised to act with vigor against the rebels. "f 

* Hamilton to Carleton, Aug. 11, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. "Monsieur de Celoron was sent off directly for Ouia- 
tanon [Wea] with belts and speeches for the Miamis Indians 
and those of the River Ouabache [Wabash]. His orders, 
which were given in writing, as was the case with all partizan 
officers, directed that he should as soon as possible give me 
information of the dispositions of the Indians; the number 
and, if possible, the views of the rebels; and that he should 
not fail to have the few small cannon at Fort Sackville spiked 
and the trunions knocked off." — Hamilton to Haldimand, 
July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

t Hamilton to Carleton in his letter of August 11th. It 
is evident that supporting the Wabash Indians was what was 
uppermost in Hamilton's mind as being of paramount import- 
ance at this juncture. To effect this was, to interpose a bar- 
rier to further inroads of the "rebels" who had planted them- 
selves in the Illinois, and to thwart all aid and comfort to the 
enemy that might be proffered by the French and Spaniards. 
It is not improbable that he saw, if vigorous and prompt 
means were taken to secure the active cooperation of these 
tribes, recapturing the Illinois from the "rebels" would surely 
follow. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 159 

When Hamilton was informed of the arrival at 
Quebec of General Haldimand he made it a point to 
write him.* "As soon as possible," he said, ''I shall 
have the honor to transmit a statement of this set- 
tlement and of the different posts dependent on it, 
as also of the militia, the Indian department, volun- 
teers, and other matters. A plan of the fort, with the 
alterations which have been made since the month of 
November, 1775, shall be prepared and sent off this 
autumn if possible." 

'The Indian nations *in general,"" Hamilton con- 
tinued, "who resort to Detroit, have acted with great 
cheerfulness and unanimity. The Delawares are least 
to be depended on, though lately some of them have 
declared their resolution to act against the rebels ; 
and, but a few days since, one of their parties which 
had been at war brought in fifteen scalps to this place." 
"Many of the war parties," he further declared, "bring 
in prisoners and have shown a humanity hitherto un- 
practiced among them ; they never fail of a gratuity on 
every proof of obedience they show in sparing the 
lives of, such as are incapable of defending them- 
selves." 

"A prisoner," the Lieutenant-Governor also wrote, 
"brought in here by the Shawanese lately, who was 

* Hamilton had accounts, as already shown, of Haldi- 
mand's arrival, as early as Aug, 11, 1778, but he did not con- 
sider them of sufficient reliability to risk a letter to the new 
Commander-in-chief. However, on the fifth of September, 
he wrote: — ''Having just received an account of your Ex- 
cellency's safe arrival at Quebec, I take the earliest opportunity 
of presenting my dutiful respects and of congratulating your 
Excellency on the choice his Majesty has made in appointing 
you to the distinguished post of Commander-in-chief of this 
Province." 



160 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

taken near one of the forts on the Kentucky river, 
tells me the rebels were lately reinforced with three 
companies, each of seventy men." 

"A letter,'' added Hamilton, ''sent by Major De 
Peyster from Michilimackinac confirms the account of 
the rebels have taken possession of Kaskaskia and 
Cahokia, on the INIississippi. As to the Spaniards, 
however willing to take part against the English, I 
apprehend the depredation of the rebels in their neigh- 
borhood may make them backward in encouraging 
them, for I hear that some'Spaniards were at a con- 
ference between some of the Indians from St. Joseph 
and the rebels at Kaskaskia ; that they listened to 
what passed without saying a word till the rebel 
speakers went away, when they told the Indians not to 
listen to those people, for they were unable to perform 
the promises they had made them."* 

As to the French inhabitants at all the out-posts in 
the West — the Lieutenant-Governor had little confi- 
dence in them. "I firmly believe," were his words, 
"there is not one in twenty whose oath of allegiance 
would have force enough to bind him to his duty; 
added to this [is the fact] that the greatest part of the 
traders among them who are called English are rebels 
in their hearts." Hamilton thought it a most unfor- 

* Hamilton to Haldimand [Sept. 5], 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. The reinforcements mentioned by the prisoner brought 
into Detroit, as consisting of three, companies, each of seventy 
men, which had arrived in Kentucky, were the troops of Clark, 
who, of course, had not left the island at the Falls of the 
Ohio when the informant was captured. That the Kentucky 
prisoner supposed this force was really a reinforcement for 
the Kentucky posts, shows how important it was that Clark 
kept his real destination so long a secret. Clark never learned 
how close a risk he ran of being discovered. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 161 

tunate circumstance for his Majesty's interest in the 
IlUnois that Rocheblave had fallen into the hands of 
the ''rebels" — "his understanding, experience and 
authority over a troublesome set of people, rendered 
him thoroughly capable of managing such subjects." 

General Haldimand was informed further that, ex- 
cept the confirmation of the news of Clark having ta- 
ken possession of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, there was no 
intelligence from either the Illinois or Vincennes. But I 
shall not be surprised," said Hamilton, "to hear that 
the rebels are driven away ; nor shall I be surprised to 
hear they are well received. The Indians are very 
well able to effect the first ; the French very capable of 
the last, and they would gladly revive the idea of a 
French father with the Indians, though they have en- 
joyed advantages under an English government they 
were formerly strangers to."* 

"I have the honor to assure your Excellency," 
again wrote Hamilton to Haldimand, "that every 
means in my power shall be used to second your in- 
tentions with regard to the Indians of the Wabash and 
the invaders at the Illinois and Vincennes (for intel- 
ligence has arrived from the Miamis that the rebels 
had sent three persons to that place and have nomi- 
nated three Frenchmen of that settlement to act for 
them : Mayette, as commandant ; Bosseron, as mayor ; 
and Monbrun, as lieutenant). I have this account 
from Monsieur de Celoron-"t 

^ Hamilton to Haldimand, just cited. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, Sept. 16, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. It will be noticed that Hamilton says "that the rebels 
[Col. Clark] had sent three persons" to Vincennes to occupy 
Fort Sackville; such was the fact as will hereafter be ex- 
plained — one officer and two of the rank and file of his force 

11 



162 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

It was some comfort to the Lieutenant-Governor 
to learn that, on the twenty-fifth of August, a party 
of fifteen Miamis from the head of the Maumee went 
to war towards the Ohio and on the fifth of Septem- 
ber another party, consisting of a chief and thirty 
men. Even Charles Beaubien, "the King's man," 
there, on the next day, with five Chippewas and fif- 
teen Miamis started for Vincennes, but his undertak- 
ing was a failure. 

There were many in Detroit even to so late a date 
as September after the appearance of Clark at Kas- 
kaskia, who were confident the ocupation of the Illi- 
nois by the "rebels" would be a transitory one, even 
if it had not already been given up. But Hamilton 
and Hay thought otherwise. "I am of a very different 
opinion," wrote the latter. "They [the 'rebels"] cer- 
tainly had bills upon the Spanish governor," he con- 
tinued, "which were answered on their being pro- 
duced." "And as we have but too much reason to be- 
lieve," he added, "they were well received by the in- 
habitants, they will not lose their hold so soon, par- 
ticularly while they can get provisions [and other nec- 
essaries] for their parties that are or may be on the 
Ohio."'^' So the Lieutenant-Governor, sharing in the 
opinion of his Indian Agent, resolved to attempt the 
recovery of Kaskaskia and contiguous villages as well 
as Vincennes. This he would accomplish with his In- 

at Kaskaskia were the "three persons," the main dependence 
being, as before, upon the Vincennes militia. 

^^'Hay to Brehm, [Sept. — , 1778]. — Haldimand MSS. 
Hay's reasoning had, in reality, no foundation at the time, 
except that Clark and his men had been well received by 
the inhabitants of the Illinois, (Hay's letter is given iri full 
iij Appendix, Note LIX.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 163 

dian allies, and he would go with them for that pur- 
pose. It would only be a scout on a large scale. Of 
his own motion, however, he soon changed the "scout" 
into an "expedition" against the Americans at Vin- 
cennes and in the Illinois, to be regularly organized to 
capture the country. 

Hamilton's first idea — that is, of going zmth the 
Indians was strictly in accordance with Haldimand's 
views already sent to the Lieutenant-Governor ; — he 
would approve such steps as the latter found necessary 
to take in supporting the Wabash Indians ; and Ham- 
ilton would go along to see that his aid was made ef- 
fective. And the further words of Haldimand were 
not lost upon the Lieutenant-Governor, — "And I 
must observe that, from the great expense to which 
Government has been put by the Indians in general, it 
might be expected that some of them might easily be 
induced to undertake expeditiously to clear all the Illi- 
nois of the invaders; and if the efforts of the parties 
which you send out and have proposed to send out to 
the Ohio were properly directed, the retreat of the 
rebels and especially the communication and inter- 
course which they want to establish, by that river, 
with the French and Spaniards might be so disturbed, 
if not entirely cut off, as to render the object of their 
expedition [to the Illinois] . . » entirely fruit- 
less." How, then, could the war-party he now pro- 
posed to send out be more properly conducted than for 
him to go along and direct their movements ? Would 
not this be in strict accordance with the instructions 
(or, rather, suggestions) of General Haldimand? 
Evidently Hamilton so thought, and he acted promptly 
upon his conviction. But the words of Haldimand 



164 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

were not, strictly speaking, an authorization for an 
''expedition" against the "rebels" in the Illinois and at 
Vincennes, to be undertaken by Hamilton, bringing 
whites and Indians to his aid : Indian war-parties with 
white leaders was one thing; British expeditions 
against Americans with Indians as allies, quite an- 
other. And the Commander-in-chief did not intend 
to give the Lieutenant-Governor authority for such an 
undertaking.'^ But the questions asked by the Gen- 
eral concerning the practicability of such an enter- 
prise f only confirmed Hamilton in his resolution to go 
on with the expedition. He did not wait orders from 
Haldimand. He would anticipate them. Vincennes 
was first to be occupied.^ 

''Captain Lernoult," wrote the Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, "has promised me every aid in his power ; and, 
as I purpose going with the Indians, I hope to be able 
to keep up their good disposition. I rely much on the 

* Haldimand to , June 17, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 

The assertion afterward made by Clark to the contrary falls 
to the ground. 

t In Haldimand to Hamilton, Aug. 27, 1778, before men- 
tioned. 

X "It is evident," says a Western writer "that his [Hamil- 
ton's] first purpose was to proceed at once to Kaskaskia, 
where Clark's force was stationed, for he urges Major De 
Peyster to send him assistance." — C. I. Walker, in The 
North-West During the Revolution, pp. 20, 21. But Hamil- 
ton's correspondence, as will presently be seen, clearly shows 
that Vincennes was his first objective point; — to recover 
this place from the "rebels," his first purpose : after this 
.had been accomplished, he would proceed against Kaskaskia 
and the other Illinois towns. He did not propose to march 
against the latter by way of St. Joseph and the Illinois river, 
but would take the other route, up the Maumee and down the 
Wabash to Vincennes, 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 165 

experiences and zeal of the gentleman [Jehu Hay], 
who has been deputy agent here and is well regarded 
by them.""^ 

Hamilton, at the same time, wrote Major De Peys- 
ter at Michilimackinac, acquainting him that he would 
set off in about twelve days to attempt to dislodge the 
"rebels" at the Illinois; at the same time requesting 
him to engage his Indians to cooperate by way of the 
Illinois river, in the undertaking.f He soon after 
sent a message to St. Joseph to the same effect. 

Hamilton also informed the Commander-in-chief, 
that the water of the Miamis [river, now known as the 
Maumee], was reported to be extraordinarily low; but 
the weather having lately changed, it might be ex- 
pected to rise, and by the time the equinoctial gales are 
blown over, he thought there would be water sufficient 
for his purpose. "As I expect to get off by the first 
of October," he also wrote the General, "I am to re- 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Sept. 16, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

t Id. "On the 16th and 17th of September, with an en- 
closure from M. Celoron of the Miamis [should be, "of Wea"] 
he [Hamilton] acknowledges the receipt of my letters of the 
26th and 27th August, and says that he will fulfil. my inten- 
tions concerning the rebels who have taken Post Vincennes. 
He will accompany the Indians. Captain Lernoult gives him 
all the assistance possible. He [Hamilton] gives notice of his 
intention to Major de Peyster and asks him to engage his 
Indians to cooperate with him by the River Illinois." {Re- 
marks of Haldimand on Hamilton's Letters : Haldimand 
MSS.) "Sept. 15th. I had the honor of a letter from your 
Excellency [referring to Haldimand's letter of Aug. 26th], 
and in consequence, wrote to Major De Peyster, at Michili- 
mackinac, informing him of my design of attempting to dis- 
lodge the rebels from the Illinois." (Hamilton to Haldimand, 
July 6, 1781: Germain MSS.) 



166 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

quest of your Excellency that any letters you may 
please to send with a design to be first read by Cap- 
tain Lernoult, may have a flying seal." 

Hamilton then gave to the Commander-in-Chief 
more of his intentions. "Finding," said he, "from 
correspondents at Ouia Tanon [Wea] and the Mi- 
amis,* that the Wabash and other Indians are averse 
to the Virginians settling at the Illinois, I concluded 
no time was to be lost in supporting and encouraging 
them, especially as by the letter I receive from the 
Miamis, it appears that the French are too much dis- 
posed to favor the rebels. I purpose carrying a pres- 
ent for the savages as little bulky as possible. Sev- 
eral articles necessary for such an enterprise had been 
forwarded long since, so that the time necessary for 
convening the chiefs and settling matters for depart- 
ure may be easily calculated. Your Excellency is no 
doubt aware that in an undertaking depending so 
much on Indians, and in a settlement where I am but 
too sensible there are many disaffected persons, secrecy 
is impracticable, I hope notwithstanding to second 
your Excellency's views by preventing the rebels from 
confirming themselves at Illinois. . . Captain Ler- 
noult and Captain Grant give me every possible assist- 
ance, and I see none but cheerful faces since the 'scout' 
has been mentioned. — I am to meet the chiefs in 
council this morning, after which Captain Lernoult 
will send off the Angelica to Fort Erie. As I mean 
to consult with the headmen on the numbers neces- 
sary to be taken with us, I hope to leave for your Ex- 
cellency a return of the effectives for the enterprise. 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Sept. 16, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. (See Appendix, Note LX.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 167 

"Since last May the Indians in this district have 
taken thirty-four prisoners (seventeen of whom they 
delivered up) and eighty-one scalps: several prisoners 
taken and adopted are not reckoned in this number." 

As to the assertion here that ''several prisoners 
taken and adopted are not reckoned," it is certain the 
Lieutenant-Governor misstated the facts. Well 
enough did he know they had not all been adopted, al- 
though possibly a very few had been. Then, too, in- 
stead of "several" he certainly was aware many had 
been captured that had not been given up. "Seven- 
teen of the above prisoners," wrote the Indian agent 
at Detroit, referring to those mentioned by Hamilton, 
"were delivered up here, but there are many more 
among them that as yet we know nothing of."* 

"We have many . . [Indian] parties out," are 
the words of the Detroit agent of Indian affairs, at 
this time, "but Governor Hamilton, for want of fresh 
instructions or orders has confined himself to the tenor 
of those he has first received, namely: carrying con- 
tinual alarms to draw the attention of the rebels to the 
frontiers ; preventing the re-setting of the country al- 
ready abandoned; and harrassing those destined to 
keep up a communication between the small forts 
which you may imagine they have done, as three dif- 
ferent parties sent from this [place — Detroit — ] 
since spring have taken thirty-three prisoners and 
eighty scalps, with the loss of eight principal Hurons 
[Wyandots], one Ottawa, and one Pottawattamie. 
Fourteen of the different nations were wounded. "f 

*Hay to Brehm (Sept. — 1778). — Haldimand MSS. 
(See Appendix, Note LIX.) 

t Hay to Brehm, just cited. I find nowhere else the 
policy of Hamilton so clearly set forth as in this letter. 



168 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The continued asseverations of Hamilton and Hay 
as to the lack of barbarity on part of the Indians in 
their forays into the border settlements, because of in- 
structions from both to forbear their bloodthirstiness, 
was a sham — the merest delusion. That the protes- 
tations of the Lieutenant-Governor and his Indian 
agent had some restraining influence on the Lake In- 
dians — the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattamies and 
Detroit Wyandots — is true ; at most, however, it was 
but slight. On the Sandusky Wyandots, the Min- 
goes, and particularly the Shawanese, it amounted to 
nothing. Hay, in his desire to promote every effort 
on part of the savages, wholly lost sight of the real 
contest — that between the Mother country and her 
rebellious Colonies. To his mind it was, in the West, 
an Indian War pure and simple. Hear him: 

'The four nations of the Lakes — The Ottawas, 
Chippewas, Hurons [Detroit Wyandots], and Potta- 
wattamies — have shown great attachment to his 
Majesty and Government. The Shawanese, Min- 
goes and part of the Delawares, have been very 
active. They are stimulated as much by the late in- 
cursion of the Virginians under Lord Dunmore and 
their cruelties since as anything else. Some of them 
took up the hatchet before they were asked; the rest 
upon dliberation and in assurance of their being sup- 
ported by Government. And I must confess there 
never was known an Indian war carried on with as 
little of their wanton cruelty. Indeed, the sparing of 
the lives of prisoners, the aged men, women and 
children, was insisted on from the first ; and they have 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 169 

paid great attention to it; and they never went with- 
out some reward for their compHance."* 

It was not a question with Hamilton, in giving in- 
structions to white partisans who led savage war- 
parties or to the Indians themselves, as to whether the 
borders, when attacked, were in arms — were in fact 
combatants — but were they able to defend them- 
selves ; just as though the bloodthirsty warriors would 
discriminate between the middle-aged and the aged! 
And here it may be said that the gratitudes bestowed by 
the Lieutenant-Governor were by no means confined 
to those savages who spared the lives of such as were 
incapable of defense; but they were given whenever 
prisoners and scalps were brought in, and with a de- 
light that was always manifest by the words and 
actions of the giver; and these donations, as before 
suggested, had exactly the effect of a standing reward. 

The reasons brought forward by Hamilton that the 
French inhabitants of the Illinois were too much dis- 
posed to favor the "rebels," and that the Wabash and 
other Indians did not relish the idea of Virginians 
settling there, were indeed weighty as inducements for 
his undertaking to recover that country; but Hay 
doubted the sincerity of the Wabash Indians in that 
regard. He thought they would probably remain neu- 
tral until they found themselves sufficiently supplied 
with necessaries by the Virginians and that then it 
might be expected they would be at least overbearing 
and perhaps insolent, which would affect those nearer 
Detroit, in so much as to require more expense and 
great diligence to keep them to their duty.f 

* Hay to Brehm, before cited. 
tid. 



CHAPTER X. 

AFTER the middle of September, Hamilton made 
almost daily report of progress in his undertak- 
ing. On the twenty-second, he wrote the Com- 
mander-in-Chief ''that the preparations" for his "lit- 
tle enterprise" were forwarding with alacrity. But 
surely it was to be something besides a "scout ;" — 
instead of his going with the Indians they were to go 
with him. He was now profiting by the hint given 
him by the Commander-in-Chief as to the number and 
disposition of the militia of his district, and the com- 
pany he had raised at Detroit "and put on actual pay 
for service."* 

"Having reviewed the companies of militia," Ham- 
ilton subsequently wrote, "I found there would be 
as many of them turn out volunteers as (with 
the regulars, Lamothe's company and the Indians) 
would employ what little craft we had."t The 
"little enterprise" was assuming large proportions. 
Fifteen pirogues capable of transporting from 
eighteen hundred to three thousand pounds each, 
having had a thorough repair, set off for the 
rapids of the Maumee, where cattle and wheels 
had likewise been sent to expedite the carriage at that 
portage. "Biscuit is baked, provisions packed in 
small barrels or bags, the militia companies drafted, 
artillery stores prepared, boats mending, and all that 
can be thought of, put forward," are the words of the 
Lieutenant-Governor. "If it be possible," said he, "to 

* Haldimand to Hamilton, Aug. 27, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
(170) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 171 

move off on the first of next month, I shall use my 
best endeavors to do it. I can not foresee, though I 
shall provide against any inclemency of the weather 
which ought to prevent our taking and maintaining 
Port Vincennes till reinforcements can join us. Light 
cannon and an able engineer (as I must confess my 
own want of knowledge in a branch which requires 
abilities which I could never pretend to) are capital 
points [to be considered in this connection]." 

"I purpose," continued Hamilton, ''taking presents 
not only for the Wabash and more Western Indians, 
but to encourage the Delawares, Mingoes and Shaw- 
anese to keep good watch towards the banks of the 
Ohio during the winter season, when the savages are 
usually dispersed for hunting. If the Western In- 
dians express their resentment for the inroad of the 
rebels into their country, this will be a noble opportu- 
nity to build a fort on so important a spot as the forks 
at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, which 
may be, in future a bridle on the Americans of what- 
ever denomination or interest. The Falls on the Ohio 
are another important pass, which I believe the rebels 
will not omit to secure and fortify. The forks of the 
Kankakee are a third object, with the mouth of the 
Missouri, for keeping the savages in temper. . , 

"As there stre points perhaps," are the further 
words of the Lieutenant-Governor, "too difficult to be 
attempted in our present situation, perhaps liable to 
objection in any, I mention them with that distrust and 
diffidence which my humble station and abilities de- 
mand — it would however make me very happy to 
think a proposal of the kind should meet with your 
Excellency's approbation and that I could be in the 



m HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

slenderest degree a means of promoting the honor and 
interest of my king and country. The Spaniards are 
feeble and hated by the French, the French are fickle 
and have no man of capacity to advise or lead them, 
the rebels are enterprising and brave, but want re- 
sources, and the Indians can have their resources but 
from the English if we act without loss time in the fa- 
vorable conjuncture. This may appear a picture 
with strong lights and little or no shade, but as the ef- 
fects of pushing a force supported by the zeal of the 
Indians (who have hitherto acted with perfect compli- 
ance) have not yet been tried, I hope to be excused if 
perhaps too sanguine. The most considerable of the 
French in this settlement have shown a very good ex- 
ample, and it is better followed than I had expected. 
The appearance of a reinforcement from Niagara will 
fortify them in their good disposition. 

"I design forming a depot at the Miamis [head of 
the Maumee], but shall take a survey of the portage 
before I fix on its being on this or the other side of the 
carrying place i should the Indians act with zeal for us, 
it shall be on the other side, if coolly, on this. An ac- 
count of the numbers which leave this place shall be 
transmitted to your Excellency by the next vessel 
which goes to Fort Erie. The savages are to give 
their answer this day. Some working oxen and horses 
set off at once for the Miamis to forward the trans- 
port of provisions at that carrying place."* 

The next day, Hamilton again wrote Haldimand: 
"This day, I met the Ottawas, the Chippewas and Pot- 
tawattamies in council by their own appointment, 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Sept. 22, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 173 

present Captain Lernoult, Lieutenant [Daniel] Shourd 
and the interpreters. The Hurons [Wyandots] were 
to have come, but the bad weather prevented them; 
however, the Ottawas spoke with a sort of resentment 
at their faiHng to meet as agreed upon. Some days 
ago, I had called the chiefs together and without di- 
rectly asking them to join me, had told them I was 
going to rise up to keep my word with the Wabash 
Indians, who had taken up the axe of their father the 
King, and who had accepted his medals and professed 
their attachment to the English. I further informed 
them that my hands were loosed by your orders ; that 
I should no longer consider myself a village chief and 
that Captain Lernoult would act the part of a father in 
my absence. This, with the mustering the militia, 
pressing all the craft on the river, and other prepara- 
tions, informed them sufficiently of my design of going 
to war." 

The oath of allegiance to the officers and the rank 
and file of the militia, who came forward from the dif- 
ferent companies as volunteers to the number of 
seventy-five, was tendered on the twenty-fourth. In 
the afternoon of the same day the Indians had an ox 
roasted and Captain Lernoult with several of the offi- 
cers and principal inhabitants assisted at the feast.* 

The next day, Hamilton wrote Haldimand that a 
chief of the Pottawattamies had just taken charge of 
a letter and message to St. Joseph. The letter was to 
Louis Chevalier. As Major De Peyster at Michili- 
mackinac had full confidence in the Frenchman, the 
Lieutenant-Governor wrote him in a style to prompt 
him to deserve it also from the latter. But Hamilton 

* 3ame to same, Sept. 24, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 



174 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

was skeptical on the point. However, as there was no 
other person there to engage the Pottawattamies to act, 
he made a virtue of a necessity in writing him ; at the 
same time declaring to the Commander-in-Chief that 
as interest was his (Chevalier's) Deity, perhaps he 
might reconcile his worship with his duty.* 

Of the officers of the Indian Department at Detroit, 
one — Captain and Interpreter Alexander McKee, 
who had joined Hamilton because there was "a pros- 
pect of uniting the Western and Southern Indians and 
engaging them in his Majesty's service — was dis- 
patched in advance, on the twenty-sixth, with a mes- 
sage to the Shawanese asking them to send warriors to 
aid him in his enterprise, and a present of ammunition 
to be forwarded from the Ohio wilderness to a party of 
the same nation, which, under the lead of a white man, 
was besieging one of the Kentucky forts ; and he was 
particularly enjoined to make inquiries as to what was 
doing at the Falls of the Ohio, as Hamilton had 
quickly seen, upon being informed that the Americans 
had a lodgment there, how important (should it de- 
velop into a strong fortification) it might become in 
controlling the Ohio.f 

On the evening of the day last mentioned Charles 
Beaubien, government agent at the head of the Mau- 
mee, reached Detroit, bringing letters which mentioned 

* Same to same, Sept. 25, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 

t For a list of officers in the Indian Department who went 
upon the expedition, see Appendix to our narrative, Note 
LXIII. The fort mentioned as being besieged, it may be pre- 
mised, was Boonesborough, and the white leader of the 
Shawanese, Lieut. Fontenoy Dequindu, of the Indian Depart- 
ment at Detroit. That Hamilton's message to the Shawanese 
was for the purpose mentioned above is sufficiently evident 
from what afterward transpired. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 175 

that one Clark, with eighty men, was at Vincennes, 
where the French received them well.* Notwith- 
standing the Indians at Wea had been represented to 
Hamilton as undecided and timerous, yet, — "I shall 
lose no time," said the Lieutenant-Governor, "to en- 
courage them." It was his belief should he reach 
there time enough to speak to the chiefs before they 
took a decisive part, the sight of the lake chiefs would 
determine them as he could wish. 

On the twenty-seventh, Hamilton received from De 
Celoron, at Wea, a letter, giving him information that 
Jean Baptiste Chapoton, late a captain of militia at 
Detroit, but then in Vincennes, was very intimate with 
the ''rebels." ''He had been dismissed at his own re- 
quest, on the pretence of being too old to fulfill the 
functions of his place," are the indignant words of 
Hamilton. Then there were others friendly to the 
Americans — especially Bosseron and Legras. The 
latter, the Lieutenant-Governor bitterly denounced: 
"He is on the best terms imaginable with the rebel of- 
ficers at Vincennes. He had been equipped at De- 
troit, was in partnership here; and had received fa- 
vors at the hands of the English and French at this 
place, to say nothing of Governor Abbott's kindness to 
him." He and Chapoton were, in Hamilton's estima- 
tion, worthy associates in perjury, treason and ingrat- 
itude — both had exceeded the terms expressed in 
their passes, which they had sworn not to do. 

The Lieutenant-Governor, on the day last men- 
tioned, ordered a lieutenant in the Indian department, 
with a small party of militia, to the Miamis — head of 

* Who this "one Clark" really was, and what his business 
at Vincennes was "with eighty men," will hereafter appear. 



176 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

the Maumee — giving him written instructions. His 
party was to assist the workmen in repairing the port- 
age ; also to aid the master carpenter, boat builder and 
others at the same place. 

"My determination is," wrote Hamilton to Haldi- 
mand, ''to set out as soon as possible. Captain Ler- 
noult will send forward any reinforcement; thus the 
time spent in Indian councils (which are sometimes 
very deliberate) may be employed at the Miamis in 
fortifying that depot ["Fort Miami"], calling in the 
Indians, building craft and store houses and procur- 
ing intelligence." 

Relative to the post at the head of the Maumee — 
"the Miamis" — the Lieutenant-Governor said: 

"There will be a store of provisions, perhaps of 
ammunition and Indian goods at that place. As soon 
as I arrive there, I shall order a redoubt to be thrown 
up, the houses to be fortified, or such other precaution 
taken for its defence, as may appear best suited to the 
number of inhabitants and nature of the ground. If 
the rebels at Fort Pitt, with the assitance of the Del- 
awares in their interest, could effect the surprise of 
such a place, they would not only possess themselves 
of our magazine but cut oif one of our communications 
with Detroit, as we might in that case be obliged to re- 
turn by the way of St. Joseph and be distressed for 
provision. I shall represent this to Capt. Lernoult, 
who will judge how far a detachment sent to the Mi- 
amis, will be a cover to Detroit, and facilitate and se- 
cure our correspondence and communication. 

"The weakness of the garrison of Detroit is known 
to your Excellency. I need not, therefore, dwell on 
that subject, but at all events I shall proceed, guided 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. Ill 

by the best information I can procure. Among sev- 
eral persons very capable of informing as to the nature 
of the country and character of the inhabitants, Mr. 
Alexis Maisonville is perhaps the most so ; and I must 
render that justice to his zeal and good will which they 
merit. He has been very forward on this occasion and 
every other to act the part of a good subject. I beg 
leave to recommend him to your Excellency's favor. 
When we shall arrive at the Illinois, I expect great ad- 
vantage from his enterprising spirit." 

"Favorable rains," added Hamilton, ''for some days 
past and the good temper and disposition of the In- 
dians, encourage me to hope our little enterprise may 
be attended with some advantage. When Mr. Beau- 
bien left the Miamis, there was no notion there of any 
preparation ; so that the first reports at the Illinois will 
gain but little credit.""^ 

"We have found it a difficult matter," is the lan- 
guage of the Lieutenant-Governor to the Commander- 
in-Chief, on the second of October, "to find savages to 
express with letters to Niagara, they are so desirous of 
going towards the Wabash; I hope, however, to pro- 
cure them to-morrow. On account of all the vessels 
being absent, the repairing our craft goes on but 
slowly ; the master-builder is this day to give in the re- 
turn of those in condition, and a second brigade will 
set off on the fifth instant. The violent rains which 
were so necessary for raising the waters of the Mi- 
amis [Maumee] river, have retarded us in many par- 
ticulars. Your Excellency will please to observe, that, 

on the list of volunteers for the enterprise, several per- 
__ 

12 



178 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

sons are employed who must carry arms when occa- 
sion calls ; as to the high pay — wages are so extrava- 
gant here that the common men receive but half what 
they might earn were they to stay at home; this en- 
couragement was, therefore, necessary."* 

On the third, Hamilton again wrote : "Last night 
the savages assembled, when I sung the war song and 
was followed by Captain Lernoult and several officers 
and others, and by warriors going on the enterprise."t 

"The best disposition and alacrity," the Lieutenant- 
Governor added," are shown by all. Two Indians set 
off this day [for Niagara], with letters. As Captain 
Lernoult can not spare men from the garrison [to 
handle the pieces], I leave two small howitzers behind, 
as they would be but lumber without people to work 
them. I have, for the six-pounder which we take, two 
artillery men, one sergeant, one corporal and twelve of 
the volunteer militia, — under the orders of Lieutenant 
Du Vernet, who has exerted himself in providing and 
preparing the many necessaries coming under his di- 
rection. I shall set off for the Miamis river the i6th 
without fail. "J 

* Hamilton to Haldimand. — Haldimand MSS. 

fid. (See Appendix, Note LXI.) 

J Hamilton to Haldimand. —Haldimand MSS. "Orders 
having been given in time for putting the carrying-place at 
the Miamis [head of the Maumee] in order and for repairing 
the carriages, etc. ; the proper artificers having been engaged, 
craft overhauled, and the weight of the provisions, ammuni- 
tion, stores, Indian goods, etc., calculated; the Indians being 
found well-disposed and messengers sent to the different 
nations resorting to Detroit, apprising them of my design and 
exhorting them to send out frequent parties upon the fron- 
tiers ; — the day was fixed for our departure." — Hamilton to 
Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 179 

'The sixth, our tents were struck," says the Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, before day and most of our stores 
embarked, when three Hurons [Wyandots] from San- 
dusky arrived with a very circumstantial account of 
the approach of the rebels by several different routes ; 
that the advance guard of their main body was eight 
hundred strong ; that they were provided with cannon 
to come against Detroit; with various particulars cal- 
culated to alarm and disconcert the Indians. I told 
the messengers, however little credit I gave this ac- 
count, it should be communicated to the four neigh- 
boring nations — [Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatta- 
mies and Detroit Wyandots] — but that I had engaged 
to assist the Wabash Indians and I would keep my 
word. The Indians being assembled in the afternoon, 
heard my opinion of the intelligence and with the ut- 
most cheerfulness agreed to accompany us. During 
our meeting, the vessels hove in sight." 

"The seventh, at eight in the morning," adds Ham- 
ilton, "Captain Bird, with fifty of the King's regiment 
from Niagara, were landed. Captain Lernoult has 
permitted Lieutenant Shourd, with two sei;geants and 
thirty [one] men [of the regulars] to accompany us ; 
which, considering our hasty levies, will be a reinforce- 
ment of consequence. The true spirit of the service 
prompts Lieutenant Shourd, his sergeants, and, I 
think, the greater part of his men, to present them- 
selves on this occasion. Our strength will now con- 
sist of one lieutenant of artillery with two gunners ; 
one lieutenant of the King's regiment, two sergeants 
and thirty-one rank and file and the volunteers and 
militia, as mentioned in a former letter. The Indians 



180 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

are about seventy; several of them chiefs, the rest 
picked men. My satisfaction is, all are volunteers."* 

Hamilton was now ready to march. His force was 
made up besides that of the regulars, who were to 
overtake him (they could not get ready to leave for 
some little time, but would join Hamilton at no dis- 
tant day;t of Captain William Lamoth's volunteer 
company, numbering (besides the captain), one lieu- 
tenant, two sergeants and forty rank and file, "being," 
says Hamilton, 'Volunteers, who had been disciplined 
in the best manner we could compass for about one 
year;" of eighty-five militia — volunteers selected 
from those who presented themselves at the reviews of 
the militia companies of the settlement ; of ten "Indian 
officers" and employes from the Indian Department; 
and of seventy Indians.^ 

Pierre Potier, a Jesuit missionary, "a man of re- 
spectable character and venerable figure," now made 
his appearance on the Detroit common, at the head of 
the Lieutenant-Governor's encampment, *'and, having 
attended to the reading of the articles of war and the 
renewal of the oath of allegiance to his Britannic Maj- 
esty, gave the blessing to the Catholics present, con- 
ditionally upon their strictly adhering to their oaths, 
being the more engaged thereto as the indulgence and 

* Haldimand MSS. (Appendix, Note LXII.) There 
was much more truth in the report brought to Hamilton by 
Wyandots, than the Lieutenant Governor was disposed to 
accept. It was in reality an account of the first movement 
made by General Mcintosh from Fort Pitt to erect, down the 
Ohio, Fort Mcintosh. 

t This fact only appears in a letter written by Hamilton 
after his departure. 

X See Appendix, Note LXIII. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 181 

favor of their prince merited the best service and had 
exceeded their most sanguine expectations."*- 

"On the seventh of October/' are the words of 
Hamilton written some years after, "various necessa- 
ries for a winter movement of six hundred miles being 
provided, by the activity and good will of Captains 
Lernoult and Grant, the latter of whom had attended 
to everything afloat, and by the assistance of Major 
Hay and Mr. Fleming, the commissary, we struck our 
tents and embarked with one field piece, which was all 
could be spared from the garrison. Only one single 
person, (he an Indian) was affected with liquor.f 

By the middle of August, De Peyster at Michili- 
mackinac, not yet having heard of Clark's success in 
the Illinois, wrote the Commander-in-Chief that he 
was informed reports had been circulated there in all 
the towns that the French would soon take possession 
of that country. He declared — which was true, as 
had been discovered — that there were no troops to 
prevent the Virginians from going there, not dream- 
ing that the latter had already captured those villages. 
"The French," said he, "have it in their power to 
spread reports and poison the minds of the Indians so 
as at least to make it very dangerous to traders.''^ 

At the same time, the Michilimackinac command- 
ant gave some interesting information as to Chevalier, 
with whom he had been in correspondence and had re- 
cently received a letter from him giving information 
that forty of the savages living near St. Joseph he per- 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

fid. (As to what Hamilton meant by "a winter move- 
ment of six hundred miles," see Appendix, Note LXIV.) 

tDe Peyster to Haldimand, Aug. 15, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



182 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

suaded to remain at home after their making ah prep- 
arations to go to "West Ilhnois" to see the Spaniards.* 
"Mr. Louis ChevaUer, at St. Joseph," said he, ''holds 
the pass [from the Ilhnois] to Detroit, and can also 
give the first intelligence of the enemy's motion on the 
Wabash [as it was not a great distance across to that 
river] . 

"This gentleman is so connected with the Pottawat- 
tamies that he can now do anything with them, having 
lived upwards of thirty years, at that place. A young 
Indian named Aimoble, at present at Montreal, is his 
son. If some mark of distinction were given to this 
young man, and if he, with a few of his comrade Pot- 
tawattamies, were persuaded to remain another year at 
Montreal, it would be of great service ; as those at St. 
Joseph would never misbehave whilst any of their 
friends were down the country." 

"In the year 1763," added De Peyster, "when St. 
Joseph was cut off, Mr. Chevalier, two days before it 
happened, informed M. Schlosser of the Indians hav- 
ing bad intentions, which he [Schlosser] did not be- 
lieve at his cost. Chevalier, happening to be present, 
it gave some designing people a handle against him, as 
his innocence was not generally known. I have since 
my arrival here [at Michilimackinac] inquired partic- 
ularly into all these matters, and finding that affair no 
wise to his disadvantage, and seeing the great atten- 
tion paid to him by the Indians, I thought it necessary 

* ChevaHer to De Peyster, July 20, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. Chevalier does not say the Pottawattamies were going 
to see the Spaniards, but "the enemy." However, it is prob- 
able he intended to mention them, as they had been tamper- 
ing with these Indians; and Chevalier had not then heard 
that Clark had reached the Illinois. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 183 

to render him useful by giving him some authority at 
St. Joseph, which he has hitherto exerted with great 
discretion. ""^ 

It was on the very last day of August that De Pey- 
ster, through a letter received from Chevalier, was put 
in possession of (to him) the astounding news that the 
whole Illinois country was in possession of the ''reb- 
els ;" — "the traders in that country," he wrote Haldi- 
mand, "and many from this post [Michilimackinac], 
are plundered and the whole country [is] in the great- 
est confusion, being at a loss to know what route the 
rebels will take next."t 

But the news of Clark's success had already 
reached the Commander-in-Chief by way of Detroit, 
and the latter soon wrote De Peyster. "This dis- 
patch," said he, "was intended to have been sent you 
by a Mr. St. Hubert, a misisonary going to the Illi- 
nois; but the unfortunate change which has taken 
place in the affairs of. that country, for the present puts 
a stop to his journey, — the gentleman, Mr. J. B. de 
Grosselier, with whom Mr. St. Hubert was to have 
gone up, proceeding nevertheless ; and he being a man 
who is well acquainted with that country and very well 
spoken of, I entrust my letters to his care and recom- 
mend him to you both as a man who deserves to have 
favor shown him in his private concerns and as one 
that is capable of furnishing you with advice that may 
be useful to follow in those of the public, upon the 
present situation of the Illinois. 

"I enclose you a copy of a letter which I have writ- 
ten to Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton as necessary for 

* De Peyster to Haldimand, Aug. 15, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

t Same to same, Aug. 31, 1778. 



184 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

your information, and desiring that you will corre- 
spond with him upon the occasion, and assist him as 
far as you may have opportunities in whatever he shall 
undertake in this emergency. In the meantime, I 
must desire yon will communicate to me as expedi- 
tiously as possible, and by the safest conveyance your 
sentiments, whether from the confidence to be placed 
in the Indians, the inhabitants, and the resources and 
difficulties of the country, you think there are any 
means to be employed with a probability of success to 
recover that country and what those means are if your 
opinion on this object be in the affirmative."* 

Three days subsequent to this, Haldimand again 
wrote the Michilimackinac commandant : "Since writ- 
ing my letter of the thirtieth of August, I have had 
some conversation with Mr. de Grosselier, who thinks 
it will be practicable to send some trusty Indians into 
the Illinois with letters or messages to the missionary 
[there. Father Gibault] and by that means to learn the 
true state of the country, which Mr. de Grosselier tells 
me might be conveyed to me during the winter. I 
have, therefore, thought it necessary to recommend this 
matter to your attention. "f 

The first counter-movement attempted by De Pey- 
ster after learning that the "rebels" had gained the Illi- 
nois, was, to dispatch a person to St. Joseph (who was 
well acquainted with the Illinois Indians), with a 
speech and large belt, who was to go through their dif- 
ferent villages, insisting that they should not sufifer 
his Majesty's enemies to keep possession of their coun- 
try. "This, I hope," wrote the commandant, to his 

* Haldimand to De Peyster, Aug. 30, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

t Same to same, Sept. 2, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 185 

Commander-in-Chief, ''will have a better effect than if 
I had an expedition to send against the rebels, as the 
Illinois Indians are in constant dread of the Ottawas 
and other nations dependent on this post, — as they 
some time ago earnestly entreated I would make peace 
for them, which I effected to their great satisfaction.""^ 

The next thing done by De Peyster after hearing 
of the "rebel" success in the Illinois was to endeavor, 
if possible, to prevent the various savage tribes de- 
pendent on his post from b)eing tampered with by emis- 
saries sent by Clark ; so he procured a large belt with 
directions to the Menomonees, Sacs, Wirinebagoes and 
Sioux, who had arrived from the St. Lawrence, that it 
be taken to the different villages of the various nations 
which had been employed by government and who had 
been so long protected by his Majesty." "It is my 
earnest request," were the words of De Peyster, to the 
assembled savages at his post, "that they have not the 
least connection with the rebels, but keep themselves 
quietly at home" for the present. With this specious 
speech was given the hint that, if they did anything 
prejudicial to the traders among them, or entered into 
any alliance with the enemy, goods intended for them 
would be sent back to Montreal — a threat which 
seemed to have "great force with the Indians present." 
"I have," wrote De Peyster, "as much as possible in- 
stilled into the Indians the idea that, although the 
rebels may perhaps be able to make a show of presents 
at first, that they can by no means be able to furnish 
the different nations with their necessary wants." 

An estimate made by the Michilimackinac com- 
mandant as to the rapidity with which a light canoe 

* De Peyster to Haldimand, Sept. 16, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



186 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

(such an one as was then dispatched with his letter to 
the Commander-in-Chief) might be urged forward, 
gives the quickest time between his post and Montreal 
and return. He thought, if the crew were not de- 
tained on Lake Huron by contrary winds, they might 
reach the last-mentioned place in eleven days, or four- 
teen at farthest. Twenty-five days for a light bateau- 
canoe, manne>d with an active guide and eight men 
would be sufficient for the return to the mouth of 
French river on Lake Huron, thence to Michilimacki- 
nac ten days would be required. The weather was 
usually favorable to about the middle of November at 
his post for such navigation. 

De Peyster now began to revolve in his mind 
whether Indians might not, at once, be sent down the 
Mississippi to harrass the ''rebels" in the Illinois. 
However, he concluded it was too late in the season 
for much to be accomplished. 

There were two men of the West, who, of all oth- 
ers, were the best calculated to arouse the Indians and 
lead them upon such an enterprise. These were 
Langlade (''the zealous") and Gautier; but both these 
men were below at this time. "The Indians," wrote 
De Peyster, "have already declared that were Gautier 
here to lead them, they would penetrate the Illinois 
country this winter. As I suppose you will also send 
orders to Detroit in the winter, I shall send off an ex- 
press to be ready there, as my Indians will know the 
road, and I shall be able to depend upon them and the 
person I shall send with them." 

The Major thought it would scarcely be in his 
power to put any orders for the movement of the In- 
dians of La Bay (Green Bay) into execution; as Lang- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 187 

lade would not be able to undertake so active an enter- 
prise (should he be sent for that purpose) so late in 
the season.* 

De Peyster had not yet received from Hamilton 
notice that the latter would soon go against the Illi- 
nois towns in person, requesting his cooperation in 
sending savages by way of the Illinois river, although 
he afterward declared that he got the request "about 
the same time."t 

* Id. — I have not used the exact words of De Peyster, 
but have endeavored to convey his meaning. 

tDe Peyster to Haldimand, Oct. 24, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



CHAPTER XL 

/'^r^HE establishing by Clark of two garrisons — 
I those of Forts Clark and Bowman in the Illi- 
nois, was followed by his sending Captain 
Helm to Fort Sackville, in Vincennes, to command 
there. "I plainly saw," subsequently wrote Clark, 
**that it would be highly necessary to have an Ameri- 
can officer at that post." The' Colonel had entire con- 
fidence in Helm's fitness for the position ; — he was 
past the meridian of life and was well acquainted with 
the Indian character and disposition. Two men of 
the American force were all that were spared to go 
with him, reliance being placed in the friendly attitude 
of the citizens of the place, to assist in defense of the 
fort; hence, ''uncommon pains" were taken by Clark 
in all regulations concerning the relations to be en- 
tered into by the Captain with the inhabitants there, 
to attach them to American interests. 

But it was not the French inhabitants of Vincennes 
only who were to be dealt with in a friendly spirit — 
there were also the Piankeshaws Indians and the other 
savages upon the river — all must be conciliated — all 
made, if possible, fast friends. Helm, therefore, be- 
sides being appointed to the command of Fort Sack- 
ville, was commissioned Agent of Indian Affairs for 
the Wabash country. In the first half of August, the 
Captain set out for his post."^ He was cordially re- 
ceived by the citizens, — thanks to the effective work 
of Father Gibault. 

* See Appendix, Note LXV. 
(188) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 189 

Fort Sackville was found in possession of the Vin- 
cennes militia and was at once, and for the first time, 
occupied (though it could scarcely be considered in 
any other light than a nominal occupation) by Amer- 
ican troops — three in number : one commandant and 
two rank and file. But Captain Helm nominated offi- 
cers of the militia of the place, so that he was soon 
able to form a respectable garrison out of four com- 
panies organized, and numbering something over two 
hundred citizens, with J. M. P. Legras as Major. Of 
the four captains, Francis Bosseron was the most in- 
fluential. 

Helm found the fortification a fort in little else but 
a name. It had, however, the four iron cannon sent 
Governor Abbott by Rocheblave from Fort Gage ; but 
these could not be used to advantage, they were so 
badly mounted ; besides, the commandant had not with 
him any one skilled in the use of artillery. 

The Captain was fortunate in reaching Vincennes 
before De Celeron could present his belts and speeches 
to the savages of the Wea Indian towns ; for, although 
the latter made all haste^ intent on carrying out the in- 
structions delivered to him by Hamilton, yet, at the 
head of the Maumee, he was detained by illness. There 
were just arrived Indian reports from Vincennes of 
the presence there of Virginians, which to DeCeloron's 
mind must have made the destruction of the cannon in 
Fort Sackville according to Hamilton's orders, 
somewhat of a doubtful matter. Other rumors 
reached the ears of De Celeron while at the Miamis; 
one concerning the harsh treatment of some of the in- 
habitants of Vincennes by the Virginians particularly 
Legras, who,, after his merchandise had been seized by 



190 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

them had (so ran the report) been sent to the IlHnois. 
But this was very far from the truth, although 
promptly sent to Hamilton.* There was considerable 
merchandize, however, at Aliamis from Detroit, which 
Beaubien refused to let go across the portage to the 
waters of the Wabash, it being intended for Vin- 
cennes. 

When De Celeron finally reached Wea, he learned 
that the "rebels" had already secured the cannon he 
had been instructed to render useless. Hamilton ex- 
pected much from the Wabash Indians in view of their 
promises recently made him at Detroit by warriors 
from that section. And De Celeron was not slow in 
stirring up the war-spirit among those occupying the 
villages near his post 

Captain Helm was fully empowered by Clark to 
treat with the Wabash Indians, — the Colonel having 
sent letters and speeches by him to the Kickepoos and 
Piankeshaws "desiring them to lay down the toma- 
hawk." But if they did not choose so to do, they 
"should behave like men and fight for the English, as 
they had done; but they would soon see their 'Great 
Father,' as they called him, given to the dogs to eat." 
Clark used boasting to supply the place of men; soft 
speeches to the Indians, under the circumstances, 
would, he believed, be a mistake. At the same time, 
he wrote them that, if they thought of giving their 
hands to the Big Knives to give their hearts also ; and 
that he did not doubt but after becoming acquainted, 
that they would find the Virginians of better princi- 

* De Celoron to Hamilton, Aug. 28, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. Legras, it will be remembered, was left in command 
of the militia of Vincennes, by Governor Abbott, when the 
latter returned to Detroit. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 191 

pies than what the bad birds, the EngHsh, had taught 
them to beheve."^ 

One of the first duties to fulfill by Helm upon his 
arrival in Vincennes was to receive all Indians of 
whatever nation who desired audience. Some Shawa- 
nese on their way to the Creek Indians were early 
callers. The Captain took advantage of the knowl- 
edge of their journey to send to the principal chief of 
that nation a letter asking him to keep his people at 
home — not to let them go against the Americans, 
adding (which was not all true, however,) that the 
Shawanese and Wabash Indians were the friends of 
the Virginians. He also asked him not to give ear to 
what he might be told by the English. But, as the 
sequel shows, this letter was never delivered.f 

Captain Helm lost no time in arranging for a 
grand council with the Piankeshaws. At the meeting, 
he delivered the Colonel's speech and the wampum 
sent by the American commandant, and then gave 
them a "talk" of his own. The principal chief — the 
"Big Door" — gave expression to the views of his na- 
tion after some consultation. They had resolved to 
take the Big Knives by the hand and would conclude a 
peace with them. He said the Americans must be 
warriors and no deceivers, or they would never have 
spoken as they had. They liked such people. "The 

* Clark to Mason. — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 
38-40. The Colonel gives an extended relation of portions 
of his speed, which is an attempt on his part to explain to 
the Piankeshaws, in hyperbolic language, the nature of the 
war then existing between Britain and the United States (pp. 
39, 40). He was careful to refer to the aid given by France 
to the latter. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, Jan. 24-28, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



192 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

English were liars and they would listen to them no 
longer." The Big Knife was in the right. He would 
tell all the Indians on the Wabash to bloody their 
hands no more for the English ; and, jumping up and 
striking his breast, said, he was a man and a warrior ; 
that he was now a Big Knife, and shook the hand of 
Captain Helm — his example being followed by all 
present.* As a result of this council, there was 
friendship with the savages on the lower Wabash. f 

Elated with his success in dealing with the Pian- 
keshaws, Helm endeavored to bring about an under- 
standing with the up-river savages. Here, however, 
he was foiled. M. De Celeron at Wea, counteracted 
any effort put forth by him. Although a Frenchman, 
De Celeron was not inclined to make terms with the 
"rebels." 

French traders at Vincennes felt aggrieved at the 
action of Beaubien, in retaining their goods at the 
Miamis, and they made representations of their trou- 
bles to Captain Helm, who afterward exerted himself 
to raise men for an expedition to re-take their goods, 
hoping to be joined at Wea, by a number of volunteers 
and Indians ; but the undertaking fell through ; as the 
up-river Indians did not, from accounts, seem as 
friendly as he had been led to believe they would 
prove. t 

* Clark to Mason. — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
36. As to Clark's account of Helm's council with the Pianke- 
shaws, as given in his Memoir, see Appendix to our narrative. 
Note LXVI. 

t Not, however, as far up as Wea, as Clark affirms in 
his Memoir. 

X See the information obtained from Charles Beaubien 
by Hamilton at Detroit concerning the Upper Wabash sav- 
ages, Appendix, Note LXVII. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 193 

''One of the British agents [D'e Celeron], residing 
at Wea," wrote Clark, subsequently, "hurt our grow- 
ing interest much, the Indians in that quarter being in- 
dined to desert the British cause, but in some meas- 
ure kept from their good intention by that person."* 

Clark resolved, if it could be done, to capture De 
Celeron, — in his own expressive language, "to take 
him off." He sent, during the first half of September, 
a detachment of eighty men from Kaskaskiaf under 
command of Lieutenant John Bayley, to join Captain 
Helm at Vincennes, and, if possible, surprise him. 
The Captain, with about one hundred men — part 
"French militia and Indians" — set out by water for 
that purpose.^ But De Celeron was on the alert. He 
heard of the designs against him and at once collected 
a few Indians that he could depend on, determined to 
give battle to the American officer. However, the lat- 
ter had not advanced far up the Wabash before the 
valorous De Celeron concluded to make good his es- 

* Clark to Mason. — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 48. 

t This was the force which Hamilton mentioned (in his 
letter to Haldimand of the 26th of September) he had heard 
of through the arrival on that day at Detroit of Charles Beau- 
bien, from the Miamis — head of the Maumee, and described 
as "one Clarke with 80 men being at Vincennes, where the 
French receive them well." 

X By the fifth of October, Hamilton had received an ex- 
aggerated account of the number of men that marched under 
Helm : "Mr. Bellestre who has been sometime amongst the 
Spaniards is said to be at the head of 200 French who have 
joined the rebels on their march: 100 from the Illinois, 
the rest from Vincennes." That about one-half of Helm's 
force was made up of "French militia" of Kaskaskia and 
Vincennes, there can be no doubt, 

13 



194 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

cape, leaving his friendly Indians to defend the Wea 
stockade as best they could, or meet the enemy in open 
field if they chose so to do. The savages soon as- 
sembled in grand council to determine what was best 
to be done. But they neglected to shut the gate of 
the fort or to keep sentinels posted, not supposing the 
enemy to be near. In the hight of their delibera- 
tion. Captain Helm entered the fortification and or- 
dered them to surrender. Being taken entirely by sur- 
prise, little or no resistance was offered; about forty 
were taken prisoners; but these were soon set at lib- 
erty. A treaty followed ; and the Upper Wabash sav- 
ages were conciliated for the time (only, however, for 
some weeks) to ''rebel" interests. 

The fort, as it was called, which had fallen so eas- 
ily into the hands of Captain Helm, was *'a miserable 
stockade, surrounded by a dozen wretched cabins 
called houses." The Indians in the vicinity were nU' 
merous — about a hundred cabins, with a population 
of nearly five hundred. The French settlers were few 
and of course, needed not many arguments to be ad- 
vanced by the militia accompanying Helm, to convince 
them of the justice of the cause the latter had es- 
poused. 

The American flag was now floating at Vincennes 
and Wea on the east and at Kaskaskia and Cahokia on 
the west, marking what was then the extreme limits 
of territory which had fallen under military sway of 
Virginia ; nevertheless, it had been secured without the 
shedding of a drop of blood. 

Hamilton, when he first heard of De Celeron's 
flight "on horseback, from Wea to the Miamis," was 
disposed to be lenient in his remarks as to the events 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 195 

"Mr. De Celeron's expeditious movement rather sur- 
prises me ; but, in this country, where indulgence plen- 
iere takes place, there can be but slender confidence 
on protestations or even stronger ties. However, his 
own account may throw a different light on his 
actions.""^ . . . But subsequently he severely crit- 
icised him for his sudden departure ; — he could "find 
no excuse for his- extraordinary conduct, unless his 
being deserted by common sense or common courage," 
could plead his cause. "He might have staid in per- 
fect security a few leagues from . . . [Wea], 
where he would have found that his fears were en- 
tirely- groundless and that he had fled from a 
shadow."t But Captain Helm's force of determined 
men was something more than a "shadow," as the 
frightened Frenchman would, had he refused to leave 
Wea, doubtless have discovered. 

"On the fifth of October [1778], late in the even- 
ing," wrote the Lieutenant-Governor, "Messieurs 
Charles and Nicholas Gouin came to Detroit, the latter 
[sent as an] express from the Miamis with an account 
that Mr. De Celeron was at Wea when one De 
Couagne . . . arrived with five other persons hav- 
ing belts and speeches from the rebels addressed to the 
Wabash Indians nearly in the following terms : 

" 'You Indians living on the River Wabash ! We 
are not come with design of taking your lands from 
you; we only desire to pass through your country to 
Detroit to turn out your Father who is there ; for now 
your late Father, the King of France, is come to life 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Oct. 7, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

t Same to same, Dec. 4, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 



196 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and will recover the country he lost to the EngHsh. • 
Here are several belts for you to consider : a white one 
for the French ; a red one for the Spaniards, who mean 
to assist them; a blue one in the name of the Colonies; 
a green one offering peaceable terms from the Amer- 
icans, if you allow them to pass freely; and, lastly, a 
red one offering you war, if you prefer that. We de- 
sire you to leave a very wide road, for us, as we are 
many in number and love to have room enough for 
our march ; for, in swinging our arms as we walk, we 
may chance to hurt some of your young people with 
our sw^ords.' " 

"Mr. De Celeron, as I am informed," continued 
Hamilton, "contented himself with hearing this much 
and without waiting to hear what reply the Indians 
made to this flourishing speech, mounted his horse and 
rode off for the Miamis, who have sent a chief and 
some men to meet the rebels, I suppose with friendly 
overtures, as they are reputed but a dastardly nation 
and have done nothing this war, though treated as well 
as the bravest."* 

It was a wise policy on part of Captain Helm in 
sending this speech in advance, so far as conciliating 
the Wea savages was concerned, especially in an- 
nouncing to them (although it was far from his inten- 
tion) his determination to march on Detroit ;t but De 

* Hamilton to Haldimand. — Haldimand MSS. As 
Couagne and his five companions were undoubtedly favor- 
able to American interests, it is highly probable their repre- 
sentations, after De Celoron's fight, had a good effect upon 
the Wea savages. It is, indeed, not impossible that the fort 
gate was intentionally left open, and that the Indians were 
willingly captured. 

t See Appendix, Note LXVII, concerning this speech. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 197 

Celeron was too wary to throw himself into the arms 
of "rebels."* 

After three months of occupation of Vincennes by 
Captain Helm, it became suddenly apparent to him 
that all was not well with affairs up the Wabash. 
There came rumors of disaffection among the Wea 
Indians. More alarming however than this, was the 
report that the British were on their way to re-take 
Fort Sackville. However, because of the lateness of 
the season, the Captain was disposed to be skeptical as 
to such a movement being on foot. By the first of 
December news came which seemed to confirm what 
he had already been told; still he did not think it of 
sufficient reliability to justify his sending an express to 
Clark with the information. But the month had not 
far advanced before it was made known to him with 
certainty that the enemy in large numbers was ap- 
proaching. This information was brought to him by 
one Fouche a Frenchman residing in Vincennes. f 
'His garrison of seventy men, nearly all of Towns 
people, seemed ready to defend the fort to the last ; and 
they showed much zeal, in so far as words were con- 
cerned. Finally, the American commandant dis- 
patched a lieutenant with three men to reconnoitre up 
the Wabash, giving him written instructions to watch 
for the English and to hasten back with his intelli- 
gence when any was gained. 

* Concerning the march of the detachment sent by Clark 
against Wea, so far as relates to the journey from Kaskaskia 
to Vincennes or the return from Wea to the IlHnois, par- 
ticulars are wholly wanting. 

t Deposition of John Cornwell taken at Detroit, July 28, 
1779. ._ Haldimand MS. Also a P. S. to the same by Capt. 
R. B. Lernoult. 



198 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Anxiously did Helm await the return of the four 
militia; but some days elapsed and they had not yet 
made their appearance. He then learned they had 
been taken prisoners. On the seventeenth, it was re- 
ported that the enemy was within three miles. Then 
the Captain wrote in great haste to Clark : 

"At this time there is an army within three miles 
of this place. I heard of their coming several days 
before, and I sent spies to find out the certainty. The 
spies being taken prisoners, I never got intelligence 
till they [the enemy] got within three miles of the 
town. As I had called out the militia and had all as- 
surance of their integrity, I ordered at the firing of a 
cannon, every man to appear; but I saw but few. 
Captain Bosseron behaved much to his honor and 
credit, but I doubt the reliability of a certain gent. 
Excuse haste, as the army is in sight. My determina- 
tion is, to defend the garrison though I have but 
twenty-one men, but what has left me. I refer you 
to Mr. Williams for the rest. The army is in three- 
hundred yards of the village. You must think how 
I feel — not four men that I can really depend on, but 
[I] am determined to act brave. Think of my condi- 
tion! I know it is out of my power to defend the 
town, as not one of the militia will take arms, though 
before sight of the army [there were] no braver men. 
There is a flag at a small distance. I must concede."* 

Two men — one an American,f the other a 
J^'renchman — hurried across the river, urged by Helm 

*Helm to Clark [Dec. 17, 1778] . — Haldimand MSS. I 
have not attempted to give the exact words of Helm; but I 
have preserved his meaning as I understand it. 

t Mr. Williams, the same mentioned in Helm's letter. He 
was a brother of Captain John Williams of Clark's force. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 199 

to make all possible speed to Kaskaskia. Immediately 
after, all but three of the militia deserted their post. 
Then it was that the Captain was summoned to sur- 
render — to whom? The sequel will show. 

Turning our attention from the Wabash to the 
Kentucky settlements, we shall discover that, during 
the last half of the year 1778, affairs there were not 
encouraging. It had been conjected when Clark left 
the island at the Falls of the Ohio, that there would be 
no cessation of savage marauds. The times were in- 
deed perilous. The news, however, brought by Ken- 
ton, of the success of the Americans against the IIH- 
nois, was cheering. 

Although, after the escape of Boone from the 
Shawanese the warriors of that nation thought best not 
to immediately march against Boonesborough, yet they 
did not relinquish the undertaking. On the seventh 
of September, the fort was beset by nearly three hun- 
dred Indians and ten white men, — the whole under 
the command of Captain (and Interpreter) Fontenoy 
De Quindre, an "Indian officer" in the Indian Depart- 
ment at Detroit. One of the white men was Captain 
and Interpreter Isidore Chesne of the same depart- 
ment. On the eighteenth, the enemy abandoned the 
siege, De Quindre going with the Shawanese to their 
towns north of the Ohio. The loss of the garrison 
was two men killed and four wounded. The enemy 
had two killed and three wounded. However, the 
failure of the Shawanese in their attempts against 
Boonesborough did not, for reasons hereafter ex- 

( "Bowman's Journal," of Feb. 20, 1779. Department of State 
MSS.) He is the one who is erroneously mentioned as "Wil- 
ling" in the same Journal in Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 102. 



200 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



plained, lessen the severity of savage attacks through- 
out the settlements generally; and their numbers 
seemed (strange enough to the settlers) to increase 
rather than diminish as the winter advanced. 



CHAPTER XIL 

IT was only a short distance down the Detroit river 
that Hamilton moved, on the seventh of Oc- 
tober, 1778, on his enterprise against the Illi- 
nois, before he made his first camp. "I shall observe 
once for all," are his subsequent words, "that camp 
duty was as strictly attended to as the slender know- 
ledge I possessed would admit, and that the guards, 
pickets, and advanced sentries were regularly visited 
from the setting the watch, which was usually at sun- 
set, till broad daylight; that the boats were loaded, 
manned and arranged in such a way as to be per- 
fectly secured within our sentries every night; [and] 
that the Indians camped and decamped as regularly 
as could be wished."* . . . 

On the ninth, a snow-storm having subsided, it 
was debated whether or not the passage of the lake 
(Erie) from the mouth of Detroit river to the en- 
trance to the Maumee should be hazzarded ; but, con- 
sidering the advanced season and that contrary winds 
or the freezing of the lake would frustrate his design, 
Hamilton resolved "to make the push." The distance 
across is thirty-six miles ; and it was noon before 
the swell on the lake had fallen sufficiently for the 
force to proceed. 

The description given subsequently of the voyage 
by the Lieutenant Governor, was this : "The night 
proved extremely dark; the head boats with guides 
carried lights for the direction of those astern. About 
eleven o'clock the wind shifted; it began to rain; 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
(201) 



202 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

SL heavy swell rolled in; we were on a lee shore; and 
all was at stake: what I suffered, on this occasion, 
may more readily be conceived than expressed. After 
rowing some time, we lay on our oars with our sterns 
to the swell, till we judged the most distant boats 
could discern our lights, and then rowed in shore, 
when, happily, we made an oozy beach within a mile 
of the entrance of the Miamis [that is, the Maumee] 
river. It blew so hard all night we could neither 
pitch a tent or make a fire, and yet we were happy 
in our escape ; for if, providentially, we had not passed 
an extent of rocky coast before the storm arose, we 
had all inevitably perished." 

"This day," continues Hamilton, "Monseur de 
Celeron met us on his return. He made his report 
aloud that the rebels were already arrived at the 
Miamies [head of the Maumee]. I affected indiffer- 
ence though astonished at his imprudence, and said 
I had already heard of it. I ordered him to proceed 
to Detroit. It soon appeared that his design in giving 
the false intelligence was deliberately treacherous, as 
he had been industrious, in passing the Indian settle- 
ments on the way, to spread the alarm. I apprised 
the commandant at Detroit of this message."* 

On the eleventh, the force arrived at the foot of 
the rapids of the Maumee, where Hamilton found 
Captain Grant, who, in the sloop Archangel^ had 
brought fourteen tons of provision to expedite the 
journey of the little army. On this day, the detach- 
ment of the King's regiment of one subaltern, one 
sergeant and thirty-one rank and file, joined Hamil- 
ton, f The next day, their commander, Lieutenant 

t Same to same, Oct. 14, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 203 



Ghourd, "by the accident of his piece going off, 
which shattered his leg/' was obHged to return. Dr. 
McBearth, the surgeon, was sent back with him in 
a Hght boat to Detroit, where he suffered amputation 
of his hmb; but mortification ensuing, he lost his 
life.* The doctor returned subsequently, overtook the 
expedition, and w^ent on with it. 

The Lieutenant Governor made .slow progress. 
He was delayed by bad weather. His first resting- 
place was at Rocher de Bout, on the Maumee, less 
than four miles above what is now Perrysburgh, 
Ohio, but on the west side of the stream,t which point 
he reached on the thirteenth.^ The water in the 
river he found higher than usual at this time of the 
year. The next day, he got up the greatest part of 
the provisions which had been brought by Captain 
Grant. § 

A considerable number of Indians had, by this 
time, made their appearance as auxiliaries, and every 
one was in the best of spirits. Late in the evening 
a trusty savage arrived, who had been sent forward 
for intelligence. He brought an account that the prop- 
ositions of the "rebels" at Vincennes, which had been 
made by them to the Indians had been rejected; and 
that, although they had no knowledge of the lake sav- 
ages marching to their assistance, they answered the 
Americans with a determine d spirit. This information 

* Same to same, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
t See Washington-Irvine Correspondence, pp. 93, 355, and 
accompanying map. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, Oct. 14, 1778. — Haldimand 

MSS. 

§ Same to same, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



204 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

left Hamilton no room to doubt all would go well on 
his arrival upon the Wabash.* 

Here, again, Hamilton wrote the Commander-in- 
chief as to the conduct of M. de Celeron. "He has 
acted," said the Lieutenant Governor, "in a manner 
very unprecedented," and which he hoped, for the 
honor of human nature, would never be followed. 
"Treachery, ingratitude, and perjury," he said, "are 
heavy charges to lay to the account of a man reputed 
a man of honor, but I am bold to say they can be 
but too well supported." "He had the effrontery," 
added Hamilton, "to repeat to me by word of mouth 
and in hearing of the people in my bateau, that the 
rebels were at the Miamis [although they had not ar- 
rived at Quiatanon (Wea)] when he precipitately left 
there, bringing with him, notwithstanding his haste, 
some packs of peltry. He ranged about for three days 
at the mouth of the Miamis [Maumee] river, among 
the Indians, spreading this report, which however, they 
did not credit."t 

Hamilton now got news of the return to the Shaw- 
anese country from the attack on Boonesborough of 
Lieutenant Dequindre, who was to join the Lieutenant 
Governor, on the march of the latter, with others who 
had previously gone out from Detroit; J and that one 
hundred Shawanese were still at war. Forty "rebels" 
were reported as being at Vincennes ; and Hamilton 
wrote the Commander-in-chief that he expected these 

* Same to same, Oct. 14, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 

t Id. 

J Dequindre did not join Hamilton after the siege of 
Boonesborough. Captain Chesne, however, reached the Lieu- 
tenant Governor while the latter was on the march. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 205 

would call for help from Kaskaskia as soon as they 
heard of his approach, but he would send from the 
head of the Maumee, on his arrival, some Indians to 
cause an alarm down the Wabash as far as that place, 
in hopes this might divide the attention of the Vir- 
ginians there.* 

By the twenty-fourth, Hamilton had reached 
"Miamistown" — the head of the Maumee — "after 
the usual fatigues attending such a navigation, the 
water being [here] remarkably low."t On the twenty- 
eighth, he wrote that he had hopes of passing for- 
ward, on that day — "fifty-seven days' provisions for 
three hundred men." He declared the savages were 
in good health and temper and that their restraint on 
their passion for rum had improved their disposition. 
"Our own people," said he, "are in perfect health 
and spirits." The indecision of the Wabash Indians, 
was attributed by the Lieutenant Governor to the in- 
fluence of interested advisers. He believed they were 
only waiting the motions of the Lake Indians to take 
an active part against the "rebets." 

The good news Hamilton had received of the 
war-like attitude of the Shawanese and the account 
which had just reached him of so large a force of 
that nation being upon the war-path, induced him to 
send them from "Miamistown" a quantity of ammu- 
nition as a reward for their activity and to aid them 
against the Virginians. He had, the day previous, 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Oct. 14 and 15, 1778. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. It is highly probable that most of the forty 
"rebels" reported as being at Vincennes were the men forming 
the detachment sent by Clark against Wea, but who, un- 
doubtedly, had already returned to Kaskaskia. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS, 



206 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

held a council with about two hundred chiefs and 
warriors, and he declares their behavior was such 
as he wished. "Since it is likely," said the Lieutenant 
Governor, "that I shall pass the winter to the south- 
ward of Detroit," and the Indians having desired him 
to apprise their friends of the fact, he would have 
General Hajdimand send him forward orders and in- 
structions for his conduct.^ In his letter to the Com- 
mander-in-chief at this date, he again refers to the 
supposed wrong-doings of De Celoron. "Every in- 
telligence I have procured," he wrote, "confirms my 
suspicion of M. de Celoron's treachery."t 

While the Lieutenant Governor was at "Miami- 
town," Louis Chevalier reached there from St. Joseph, 
with two chiefs and thirteen warriors — Pottawatta- 
mies; "this," wrote Hamilton afterward, "and his 
future behavior may efface his [Chevalier's] former 
conduct." One of the Pottawattamie chiefs, it seems, 
had on his person a French medal, which, in the 
presence of all the savages there, numbering about 
two hundred, he gave up to the Lieutenant Gover- 
nor. The latter regarded the arrival of ChevaHer as 
"a step of consequence to the service at present." He 
added that he had been joined by several savages on 

*Same to same, Oct. 28, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 
"Here [at 'Miamis town'] we met several tribes of the Indians 
previously summoned to meet here, and held several confer- 
ences ; made them presents, and dispatched messngers to the 
Shawanese, as well as [to] the nations on our route, inviting 
them to join us, or at least watch the motions of the rebels 
upon the frontiers ; for which purpose, I sent them ammuni- 
tion." — Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain 
MSS. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, Oct. 28, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 207 

his way out; and he was persuaded he should get as 
many as he could ''manage or wish for.""^' 

Having passed the carrying place, or portage, of 
nine miles,f "we arrived," is Hamilton's subsequent 
record, ''at one of the sources of the Wabash, called 
the Little River. "J The stream was so uncommonly 
low that bateaux could not have floated but for the 
fact that, some distance below, a beaver dam kept 
up the water. This they cut through to give a pas- 
sage to their boats, and, having taken in the lading 
at the landing, they passed them all.§ The Lieutenant 
Governor now sent forward twenty-two wagons with 
provisions and stores, under the command of Lieu- 
tenant Duvernot, who was ordered to encamp at the 
forks of the Wabash and there remain until the ar- 
rival of the main force, or until further orders. This 
was on the first of November. || 

The numerical strength of Hamilton's little army 
was now nearly as follows : the detachment from the 

* Id. Also same to same, Nov. 1, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. Hamilton's order to Chevalier to raise Pottawattamies 
and conduct them to the head of the Maumee, was dated Oc- 
tober 15th. 

t In crossing the portage, there were ten carts employed : 
there were also six carriages ; two with four wheels to trans- 
port the bateaux, and four with two wheels for the pirogues. 
Captain McLeod's company took over a part of the provisions ; 
the rest got over in six days — from the twenty-ninth of 
October to the fifth of November. ("Report of Henry Duver- 
net, Second Lieutenant of Artillery." — Haldimand MSS., 
where the wrong months are mentioned in giving the dates.) 

X Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
He gives for "Wabash" — "Ouabache" ; and for "Little 
River" — "Petit Riviere." 

§ Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

II Same to same, Nov. 1, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 



208 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

King's (Eighth) regiment, non-commissioned officers 
included, thirty-two ; with the artillery were two gun- 
ners, four of the King's (Eighth) regiment, and 
seventeen from the two Detroit militia companies; 
— the latter companies had each forty-four, officers 
included. Lamothe's company numbered forty-two. 
There were forty Ottawas, twenty Chippewas, four 
Wyandots, thirty Pottawattamies (of whom fifteen 
were from St. Joseph), and thirty Miamis Indians: 
in all, one hundred and eighty-five whites and one 
hundred and twenty- four savages — an entire force of 
three hundred and nine men.''' We were assured by 
the Lieutenant Governor that women are not included 
in this his ''Return" of the savages. 

The portage which Hamilton had just crossed at- 
tracted his attention. 'This carrying-place," he wrote, 
"is free from any obstructions but what the careless- 
ness and ignorance of the French have left and would 
leave from generation to generation. An intelligent 
person, at a small expense, might make it as fine a 
road as any within twenty miles of London. The 
woods are beautiful ; [there are] oak, ash, beech, nut- 
wood, very clear and of a great growth." He declares 
he found in a ridge near the road, a sea fossil. "To 
find," said he, "marine productions on this hauteur 
des terres, is, to my mind, more curious than their 
being found in the Alps. There are no mountains in 
view, from Detroit to this place, so these fossils can- 

* Moses, in his Illinois: Historical and Statistical, vol. 
I, p. 154, says : "With a force of thirty regulars, fifty French 
volunteers, and four hundred Indians, he [Hamilton] started 
down the Wabash." But this estimate is clearly erroneous. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 209 

not readily be accounted for from volcanoes, of which 
there is no trace to be observed.""^ 

As yet no Shawanese had joined Hamilton's force; 
however, now a war party of that nation under Cap- 
tain Alexander McKee was hourly expected, but which, 
it seems, did not arrive. McKee had written that a 
few of that tribe had "attempted" a fortification built 
by the rebels at the Falls of the Ohio, but only suc- 
ceeded in destroying "a parcel of tools." *'I shall," 
wrote Hamilton, ''endeavor to cut off the communica- 
tion from that place to the Illinois, and perhaps shall 
find the taking that fort an object well worth atten- 
tion." McKee subsequently joined the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor while the latter was moving down the Wabash 
— proving himself a valuable assistant to Deputy 
Agent Hay. 

Hamilton had not only been informed that the 
"rebels" had built a fort at the Falls of the Ohio, 
but he had w^hat was to him much better news, that 
the Miami Indians of Eel river would join his force. 
"We have had," he continued, "pretty sharp frosts, but 
■fine clear weather. By damming up the water of the 
Little River four miles below the landing, the w^ater 
is backed and raised an inch here. At the dam, it 
rose an inch the first hour. The beavers had worked 
hard for us, but we were obHged to break down their 
dam to let the boats pass that were sent forward to 
clear the river and a place called the 'Chemin Con- 
vert.' "t The beaver," Hamilton subsequently de- 
clared, "are never molested at this place by the traders 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Nov. 1, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 
tid. 
14 



210 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

or Indians and soon repair their " dam, which is a 
most serviceable work upon this difficult communica- 
tion."* 

Hamilton, as he found himself upon the waters 
of the Wabash, again revolved in his mind what he 
had learned of the flight of the commandant at Wea; 
and once more he unburdened himself concerning the 
matter to the Commander-in-chief: "Mr. de Celoron 
has a brother in the rebel service, and I have no 
room to doubt his treasonable design in spreading 
reports that might delay us till next spring, when 
reinforcements from the Colonies might effectually 
frustate our attempts to regain the Illinois or keep the 
Indians in our interest. Double pay, I take it, has 
been his seducer; and as to his reward, I hope to 
have your Excellency's orders. In the meantime I 
have ordered his suspension. "f This, seemed, for a 
while to relieve the thoughts of the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor. 

Hamilton started with his regulars down Little 
river, with seven loaded boats, having with him 
seventy-two Ottawas. The next day — the second 
of November — the Pottawattamies and the Miami 
Indians under Major Hay, with the last of the bateaux, 

* Same to same, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. "Between 
the Miamie [Maumee] and the Ouabache [Wabash] there are 
beaver dams, which when water is low, passengers break 
down to raise it, and by that means pass easier than they 
otherwise would. When they the [travelers] are gone, the 
beavers come and mend the breach ; for this reason they have 
been hitherto sacred, as neither Indians nor white people 
hunt them." — Road from Detroit to the Illinois, etc. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. 

tHamilton to Haldimand, Nov. 1, 1778. — Haldimand 
IMSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 211 

followed.* All reached, finally, a swamp then known 
as "Les Volets," which was passed with great labor. 
Beyond this, they came to the Httle ''Riviere a Boete," 
which joins the one they had descended. The shal- 
lowness of both streams obliged them to build a 
dam across each, by which means the water was 
backed into the swamp. When there was a sufficient 
accumulation, they cut their dykes and floated all 
their boats down the channel. The same obstacle 
occurred at Riviere a 1' Anguile (Eel river) and the 
same work had to be done.f 

In the progress of the expedition down the Wabash 
difficulties increased. The setting in of the frost 
lowered the river; the floating ice cut the men as 
they worked in the water to haul the boats over 
shoals and rocks. The bateaux were damaged and 
had to be repeatedly unloaded "caulked and payed." 
Ninety-seven thousand pounds of provisions and stores 
had to be carried by the men, in which the Indians 
assisted cheerfully when the boats were to be lightened. 
It was sometimes a day's work to get the distance of 
half a league. It was necessary to stop frequently 
at the Indian villages to have conferences with the 
savages, furnish them with necessaries, and engage a 
few to accompany the expedition. At length, the 
force got into a good depth of water, a fall of rain 
having raised the river; but this advantage was 
succeeded by fresh difficulties, the frost becoming so 
intense as to freeze the river quite across ; however, 
by hard labor, the men made their way onward.J 

^Id 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

J Id. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE arrival of Hamilton at Wea was not attended 
with any demonstration of surprise or hostil- 
ity on part of the Indians present. They knew 
of his approach and remained passive. "Since my 
leaving Detroit," said the Lieutenant Governor in writ- 
ing to his superior officer, " I have been joined on the 
way by savages from different quarters — the Ottawas 
of the Grand Glaize [now known as the Auglaize 
river], the Pottowattamies of St. Joseph, the Miamis 
of Riviere a TAuguile ; the Pottawattamies of Shippe- 
con, the Ouiatanons [Weas], and lastly the Kickapoos. 
Their number is small, not amounting to two hundred ; 
but I shall be sorry to have the number increased, as 
the expense of provisions must be considerable, and this 
wretched place is little capable of furnishing a supply." 
Having an eye single to the prospects ahead — a large 
reinforcement of savages, especially Shawanese, and 
of capturing Fort Sackville and, possibly, going into 
winter quarters in Vincennes, — it Avas with no little 
concern, evidently, that the Lieutenant Governor 
viewed the coming prospects : "We are told they are 
in a miserable condition at Post Vincennes for want of 
provisions, the last year's crop having sprouted on 
the ground. They have sent to the Illinois for seed 
grain." 

Hamilton informed General Haldimand that his 
savages were on good terms with each other, — a mat- 
ter of much importance, as dissensions would have 
seriously impeded his progress. He also wrote that 
the accounts of the strength of the rebels at Vincennes 

(212) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 213 

varied so much that he was at a loss to form a judg- 
ment of it. However, he did not beheve it to be such 
as should cause the least dread. 

On the third of December, some people from Detroit 
reached Hamilton at Wea. By a letter they brought 
him, he learned that Mr. Macomb, a merchant of the 
place first mentioned, had forwarded some Indian goods 
to the Miami fort at the head of the Maumee, agree- 
able to directions left him by the Lieutenant Governor 
before starting on his enterprise, but then were, "not- 
withstanding any order that may have been given for 
the furtherance of his merchandise from Deer Island, 
fifty bateau-loads at that place." Hamilton took the 
liberty of mentioning this to his superior ofiicer at 
Quebec, as the supplying of all the Indians within his 
reach would depend greatly on the speedy arrival of 
goods at Detroit early in the spring. "We are," said 
he, "nearly exhausted at present, though we do our best 
to content the savages at little expense. Arms, in par- 
ticular, there is a great demand for." 

One matter was looked upon by Hamilton with 
considerable disquietude — the progress the "rebels" 
were making at the Falls of the Ohio. But he consoled 
himself that, by what he could learn, if there was any 
fort there, "it was very insignificant in its present 
state." As to Wea, he wrote dispondingly, "The fort 
(as it is called) at this place is a miserable stockade, 
surrounded by a dozen wretched cabins called houses. 
The Indians hereabouts are numerous, there appear 
ninety-six of their cabins, which, allowing five even to 
a house makes the number four hundred and eighty." 
"The French settlers," continues the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor, "are few and as inconsiderable as debauchery 



214 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and idleness can make them. As to their attachments, 
it is difficult to pronounce. Interest, I believe, is the 
Grand Monarch with them ; however, I have formally 
administered to them the oath of fidelity to his Britan- 
nic Majesty, and left in the care of one honest man 
the St. George's flag, to be hoisted on Sundays and 
holidays, giving the Indians to understand it was a 
signal of his Majesty having resumed his rights and 
again taken them under his protection.''* 

In council with the Indians at Wea, the British 
commander destroyed the copy which had been fur- 
nished him of the "grant — or, rather, deed of sale" — 
made over three years previous by the Piankeshaws 
to the Wabash Land Company — of two large tracts 
of land lying on both sides of the Wabash below Wea. 
He assured the savages present that the transaction 
was contrary to the express desire of the British king 
and without the consent of the principal chiefs con- 
cerned, ^- the Indians of the Wabash were now to con- 
sider those lands as restored to them by order of his 
Majesty, t 

While Hamilton was at Wea, the Indian chiefs 
who had received the American colors from Captain 
Helm, "came in from their . hunting, acknowledged 
their error, gave up the flags, and accused Monsieur 
de Celoron of having deserted them; besides, that he 
never distributed to them the goods entrusted to him 
for the Indians. "J 

There was one piece of information received by the 
Lieutenant Governor from the hands of those recently 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 4, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

t See Appendix, Note LXVIII. 

X Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 215 

from Detroit which bore heavily upon his mind; so 
he wrote the Commander-in-chief: "A letter from 
Mr. Gary, the deputy sheriff at Montreal, acquaints 
me that some legal process has been commenced against 
Mr. Dejean for acting under my direction in regard 
to criminal matters. I beg leave to recommend him 
to you-r Excellency's protection as a man who has cre- 
ated enemies by doing his duty and who has had the 
misfortune to fall from good circumstances into indi- 
gence. I hope I shall be responsible for any malver-. 
sation of his, as he has only acted by my orders, and 
I have had reason to be satisfied with his behavior as an 
honest man and loyal subject. Should any complaint 
against myself be lodged judicially, I am perfectly 
at ease, persuaded your Excellency will allow me to 
vindicate my conduct without encountering the chicane 
of the law."* 

Hamilton kept steadily in view the words of Haldi- 
mand as to the propriety of sending out parties of 
Indians to cut the communication so much desired by 
the "rebels" to be kept open between Fort Pitt and 
the Mississippi river. But now the Lieutenant Gover- 
nor had an expensive scheme in his mind to aid the 
savages. As far as he could judge, it would be prac- 
ticable to establish a post and build a fort in any part 
of the Indian country eastward of the Mississippi as 
far as the Ohio; but, for this, aids of men and mer- 
chandize would be necessary, to support such an under- 
taking as well as to keep up the good disposition of 
the Indians. The savages with him at Wea living 
in the Wabash country, gave him their promise to 
raise all their warriors during the next spring "to 

*Same to same, Dec. 4, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 



216 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

spread themselves in all directions "in their attacks 
upon the frontier settlements of the Americans. "I have 
recommended to them," are the words of the com- 
mander to his superior, "the example of the Lake 
Indians for courage and humanity.'' 

But Hamilton could not give Haldimand before 
leaving Wea, any satisfactory idea as to the steps he 
would take after proceeding onward toward Vincennes. 
"The rigor of the season," said he, "which has in some 
places frozen the river quite across ; the delays occa- 
sioned by the lowness of the water; the repairs nec- 
essary for our craft; and the usual tardiness of the 
Indians, who, being our main-spring, must be attended 
to ; — all conspire to the tediousness of the journey." 
"The health and good temper," he added, *'of all the 
various colors and characters that compose our little 
band, give me encouragement to hope the best."''' 

It was in the after part of the fourth of December, 
that Hamilton left Wea to continue his march down 
the Wabash. A reconnoitering party from the main 
force, seized, on the fifteenth, the lieutenant and three 
men sent by Captain Helm from Fort Sackville for 
intelligence. 

The American officer acquitted himself but poorly, 
— "having taken so little precaution as to be surprised 
himself," says Hamilton. f The officer had in his 
pocket, two commissions, — one from Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor Abbott, the other from Colonel Clark.ij: "He 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 4, 1778. — Haldimand 

MSS. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30th, 1778. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. 

t I^nmiiton to Haldimand, July G, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

iIcu-..ilton a.Ids that the lieutenant was "in the pay of Con- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 217 

showed no apprehension of being hanged on the next 
tree," says the Lieutenant Governor, "which he cer- 
tainly deserved ; and observing the savages offered him 
no violence, he was presently quite at his ease.* 

From his prisoners, the British commander learned 
that Captain Helm had permitted "almost all his peo- 
ple to return to their homes," — depending for the de- 
fence of Vincennes on the French militia, "who had 
all taken an oath of fidelity to the States. "f The arms 
of the lieutenant and his three men were given to the 
Indians. Hamilton declares he did not proceed vigor- 
ously with his prisoners, wishing to gain the Vin- 
cennes people by lenity, and apprehensive that an in- 
stance of severity might arouse the ferocity of the 
savages, which he wished of all things to avoid. | 

Having learned from his prisoners the state of 
things at Vincennes the Lieutenant Governor, on the 
sixteenth, sent off two parties of Indians with each 
an "Indian officer," with instructions to lie on the roads 
leading from that town to the Illinois and to the Falls 
of the Ohio — one on each side of the Wabash, to in- 
tercept any intelligence of his arrival that might be sent 
to those places. They had orders to keep their sta- 

gress." This, of course, was erroneous. In his letter to 
Haldimand last cited, the Lieutenant Governor confuses mat- 
ters : "He [the lieutenant sent out by Helm] was furnished 
with two commissions : one from Lieut. Gov. Abbott, the 
other from the commandant for Congress." 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30th, 1778. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. 

t Id. The information regarding Capt. Helm permitting 
"almost all his people to return to their homes," related, 
really, to the return to the Illinois of the men sent out by 
Clark against Wea. 

X Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



218 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

tions till they should discover the English flag flying 
over Fort Sackville, and to secure any messengers and 
their letters, but to do no violence to the persons who 
might be captured.* 

Major Hay, also, was detached with Captain La- 
mothe's company, Lieutenant Duvernet of the Royal 
Artillery, with the six-pounder, and the regulars of 
the King's regiment to fall down the river and enter 
Vincennes. Hay had with him Antoine Bellefeuille 
(the interpreter), and several chiefs of the different 
nations who formed a part of Hamilton's force, to 
conciliate the Piankeshaws residing in the town, and 
to show the French what they might expect if they 
attempted to resist. ''Had our whole force moved 
forward together," says Hamilton, "it would probably 
have been impossible to have restrained the savages 
from destroying the settlement. As it was, the young 
men took alarm that they should have no share in the 
business and threw themselves hastily into their canoes 
to follow. They were, however, prevailed upon to 
return. "t 

Major Hay was given orders to secure, if possible, 
the craft lying before the place by sending a party in 

* Id. ; also Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30th, 1778. — 
Haldimand MSS. Hamilton, in the first mentioned letter, 
speaks of the Falls of the Ohio, as the place where (at the 
time of his approaching Vincennes) the "rebels" had a fort 
and a number of families had lately come to settle. He refers 
in his letters to Haldimand of Nov. 1 and Dec. 4, 1778, as 
well as in that of July 6, 1781, doubtless, to the defensive 
work on the island ; as the new fort to be built on the main- 
land was, when his informants were there, only just com- 
menced. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. ; and same to same, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 219 

the night in boats to pass the town and stop any people 
who should attempt to escape by water. ^ A placard 
was sent to the inhabitants, cautioning them to avoid 
acting in the offensive, as the consequences would be 
fatal to them.f If, as Hamilton expected, there was 
not any resistance made, and that Hay found the re- 
port of the prisoners to be true, he was to order the 
St. George's ensign to be hoisted at the fort as a signal 
for the parties before sent out to join him. He was 
likewise empowered to receive the submission of the 
French inhabitants who should lay down their arms; 
but, should he find that the ''rebels" had been rein- 
forced, he was to take post to the best advantage pos- 
sible, send off an express to the Lieutenant Governor, 
and await his arrival. 

Having taken these precautions, the British com- 
mander, on the seventeenth, fell down the river from 
the distance of seven leagues. It snowed and blew 
fresh from daybreak till one o'clock, when to the sur- 
prise of Hamilton, he plainly saw the ''rebel" flag 
was still flying at the fort. He concluded the Amer- 
ican commander had been reinforced ; and he felt cer- 
tain such was the case, upon finding Lieutenant Schief- 
felin, with all the boats lying in a little cove about a 
mile above the town. But he soon learned the true 
state of affairs. 

Captain Alexis Maisonville and Captain McLeod 
were ordered to land their men — the Detroit volunteer 
militia, leaving one man to each boat as a guard, and 
march "slowly towards the town. At the same time, a 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30th, 1778. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. 

fid. — Corroborated by same to same, July 6/1781. — 
Germain MSS, 



220 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

flanking party was ordered forward, as the brushwood 
was thick on the left of tlie line of march. 

When Hamilton came in sight of the town, he 
posted sentries and halted his men."^ Just then a mes- 
senger from Major Hay reached him, desiring the 
sending to him of the St. George's flag, also informing 
the Lieutenant Governor that his men were advan- 
tageously posted, and that the gun was mounted. The 
flag was sent as required ; and the commander at once 
started to join the Major, whom he soon found with 
his men drawn up and the French militia of the village 
bringing in their arms. 

Hay informed Hamilton that the American com- 
mandant was deserted by those in whom he had re- 
posed confidence and did not intend to hold out, but 
would not strike his colors until he knew what terms 
he was to have.f The six-pounder being ready, Lieu- 
tenant Duvernet was ordered to proceed with it to- 
wards the fort, six men with a sergeant of the King's 
regiment marching before with fixed bayonets, fol- 
lowed by the remainder of the detachment and the 
volunteers and militia under Major Hay. 

As Hamilton approached the gate of the fort, he 
sent a person forward to summon the commanding 
officer to surrender;:): but Captain Helm desired, by a 
written paper, to know who made the demand. The 

* Appendix, Note LXIX. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30th, 1778. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. Hay probably obtained knowledge of Helm's 
determination from those who had just deserted him. 

X It was this person who carried the flag mentioned by 
Captain Helm, in his hastily written letter to Clark (finished 
and dispatched immediately before he was summoned to sur- 
render), — which flag he says was "at a small distance" 
away. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 221 



British commander sent for answer verbally: 'The 
King's Lieutenant Governor from Detroit." Hamil- 
ton then advanced to the wicket. Helm soon pre- 
sented himself — ''for, 'indeed," says the Lieutenant 
Governor, "he was almost alone" — having but five 
men left — and asked what terms he should have.^^ 
He was answered, humane treatment for himself ; that 
no other terms would be mentioned. Hamilton was 
then admitted.f "The officer who commanded in the 
fort (Captain Helm)," is the subsequent language of 
Hamilton, "being deserted by the officers and men 
who to the number of seventy had formed his garrison 
and were in pay of the Congress, surrendered his 
wretched fort on the very day of our arrival, being the 
seventeenth of December, 1778. Thus we employed 
seventy-one days in coming only six hundred miles, 
which is to be attributed to the extraordinary diffi- 
culties of the way, owing to an uncommon drought ; 
the severity of the season; and the inevitable delays 
at the Indian villages, particularly at Ouiatanon 
[Wea]."$ 

* See Appendix, Note LXIX. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, loc. cit. But Hamilton is 
silent as to the number of Helm's garrison. Although "hu- 
mane treatment was mentioned only in connection with 
Helm's name, the Captain seemed fully assured it would be 
extended also to his five men and in this, as will be presently 
seen, he was not mistaken. It is altogether certain, from 
what immediately transpired, that Helm did not leave the 
fort, nor any of his men. 

J Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Gei-main MSS. 
But the Lieutenant Governor was in error in saying Captain 
Helm's garrison was in pay of the Congress. It was from 
Virginia they expected pay for their services, as already 
shown. 



222 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

So soon as the British commander entered the fort, 
he posted sentries at the gate to keep out the savages ; 
but while he was attending to this, some of them got 
in at two gun posts, which had not been secured. 

Hamilton called to the interpreters and used his 
best entreaties with the chiefs, who really did all in 
their power to restrain their men, "but the torrent was 
too strong for such feeble barriers." The Indians bore 
down the sentries, and seeing one posted at the door 
of Captain Helm's quarters, they went to the windows 
which they broke in and then fell to plundering. The 
soldiers, in the meantime drew up in the fort and 
were quiet spectators of this scene of disorder, "which 
lasted," as the Lieutenant Governor affirms, "until the 
curiosity (I cannot say avarice) of the savages was 
gratified." 

The Indians upon being requested so to do, restored 
to Captain Helm his private property. Thirty-two 
stout horses which had lately been purchased for the 
Kentucky settlements were inside the fortification and 
these were soon secured by the Indians, "which I would 
not deprive them of," says Hamilton, "as they had 
not committed a single act of cruelty, and have treated 
the inhabitants with the humanity which was recom- 
mended to them." "Had a single shot been fired," adds 
the Lieutenant Governor, "probably the settlement 
would have been destroyed in an hour's time."* 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. The Lieutenant Governor was under the impression 
that the horses found inside the fort, had been purchased for 
the use of Congress, but this was not the case. ("Bowman's 
Journal" — Department of State MSS.) It is evident that 
Hamilton had no idea that the "rebels" under Clark were, 
along with the Colonel, Virginia troops : he supposed the 
whole were under Congressional direction. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 223 

For some time Captain Helm ''hesitated to take 
down the Continental flag;" but, at length finding it 
was expected of him, ordered it to be lowered, and 
the St. George's was run up instead; "which signal," 
says Hamilton, "drew in our parties, one having taken 
two prisoners (an American and a Frenchman), who 
had Captain Helm's letter to Colonel Clark."* 

In the fort, Hamilton found, besides the horses, 
two iron three-pounders mounted on truck carriages, 
two swivels not mounted and a very small quantity of 
ammunition. As to the fortification, it was, the Lieu- 
tenant Governor declares, "a miserable stockade, with- 
out a well, barrack, platform for small arms, or even 
lock to the gate."t 

• Although to Captain Helm was accorded humane 
treatment, and although no violence was offered his 
five men, yet all were held prisoners of war. That 
such would be the result, they must have anticipated. 

Outside the fort, the day was spent on part of 
some of the soldiery and Indians in taking proper 
precaution to secure their boats and canoes, and in 
landing and conveying inside the pickets, provisions 
and baggage. Thus it was that Fort Sackville again 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, loc. cit. See, also, same to 
same, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. It is the declaration 
of Hamilton that the letter from Captain Helm was "to 
Colonel Clark, commandant (under the Congress) of the 
Eastern Illinois." Who Clark was "commandant under," 
although not then understood, as before explained, by the 
Lieutenant Governor, was, not long afterward, it may be 
premised, made clear to him. Hamilton sent a copy of Helm's 
letter to the Commander-in-chief, declaring to him what was 
true enough, that it showed "what confidence was to be placed 
in men [meaning the citizens of Vincennes] who have once 
violated a sacred engagement." 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



224 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

passed into the possession of the British; and the in- 
habitants of Vincennes again bowed in submission to 
a fate which they could not avert. Everywhere in the 
town, there was a complete surrender to the Lieutenant 
Governor. "There is nothing flattering," he wrote 
the next day, ''to win such submission.""^ 

The official report of Hamilton puts the number of 
those who surrendered to him at Vincennes, as ''one 
major, four captains, two lieutenants, two ensigns, one 
Indian agent, one adjutant, one commissary, one inter- 
preter, four sergeants, and two hundred and sixteen 
rank and file; of the last one hundred and sixty were 
volunteers." This return included all the citizens of 
the place who had been enrolled in the militia com- 
panies, together with their officers. 

Hamilton had fully earned his success at Vin- 
cennes. It is evident his journey from Detroit had 
been one of considerable hardships and of not a little 
suffering. "I must say," are his words, "to the praise 
of the officers and men, they supported the fatigues 
and hardships of their tedious journey with the utmost 
cheerfulness." "As to the poor savages," adds the 
Lieutenant Governor, "their not firing a single shot on 
the day of taking possession of the place, nor injuring 
or even insulting a single soul (except a poor miller, 
whose house they plundered, being half a league from 
the fort) reflects disgrace on some well-instructed 
Christian regulars who have not held hospitals as 
asylums from their fury."t 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

fid. (For some published errors concerning the march 
of Hamilton to Vincennes from Detroit, and the taking of the 
first-mentioned place, see Appendix, Note LXX.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 225 

Afterwards, in commenting upon the behavior of 
the savages upon this occasion, the British commander 
says : "Such was the moderation and good order ob- 
served by the Indians, that not a single person had 
the slenderest cause of complaint ; not a shot was fired 
nor any inhabitant injured in person or property." 

"It is remarkable," adds Hamilton, "that although 
on our arrival at this place our number was increased 
to five hundred men, there was not one sick, nor had 
there been a single instance of drunkenness among 
the Indians or soldiery from the day we left Detroit, 
though rum was delivered out on every occasion when 
the fatigues or bad weather made it necessary."* 

As to the cause of the detention by the way, the 
Lieutenant Governor gives certainly very reasonable 
explanations. 

And thus, too, sometime after these events trans- 
pired, wrote an officer of Lamothe's company : 

"On the seventh of October, 1778, Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor Hamilton took his departure from Detroit, with 
a detachment of the King's Vlllth regiment, the De- 
troit volunteers, a detachment of artillery, two com- 
panies of militia, and a number of savages, under his 
command, to retake the posts the rebels had taken 
possession of in the Illinois; that, after suffering the 
greatest hardships, cutting the ice to make [a way] 
for their boats, transporting their stores, provisions, 
etc., on the soldiers' backs at different places, where 

*Same to same, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. The 
"five hundred men" included Indians, regulars and militia — 
his entire force. 

15 



226 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

the bateaux could not get over, they reached Vincennes 
on the Wabash^ in December.""^' 

There was a negligence on the part of Haldimand 
so far as replying to the correspondence of Hamilton 
was concerned, clearly indicating his disproval of the 
whole movement of the Lieutenant Governor against 
the Illinois. Finally, however, he answered his let- 
ters which had been sent before starting, as also all 
those to the close of the year. "1 received," he said, 
"your several letters previous to your departure from 
Detroit. The suddenness of your resolution to march 
against the rebels that had invaded the Illinois, made it 
impossible for me to give you any orders ; but, from 
the knowledge of you and the spirit your letters 
breathe, I am persuaded you have executed what ap- 
peared to you best for the King's service ; and, in that 
light, the measure you had pursued was stated to the 
secretary of state in my letter last fall. 

"I had since, by your dispatches of the i8th Decem- 
ber last, which come to hand the 19th of March with 
their several enclosures, learned that you have taken 
possession of Fort Vincennes. Long before this 
reaches you, you will have been satisfied whether the 
rebels seriously intended an attack upon Detroit, and 
acted in consequence, or seen what further could be 
done for the King's service, in those parts, with the 
force at present with you. . . . 

*'By accounts which bear every mark of authen- 
ticity, his Majesty's arms have been attended with suc- 
cess to the southward ; the province of Georgia is once 
more reduced to obey their lawful sovereign and great 

* Schieffelin : Loose Notes {Magmwe of American His- 
tory, vol I, p. 186). 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 227 

hopes are entertained of the royal forces being able 
to penetrate further that way. It is likely this will 
engage the southern Indians to make such a diversion 
on their part as may tend in future to facilitate your 
operations. In the uncertainty of all things here, un- 
informed how far this war may spread, it is impossible 
for me at this distance to give you orders and direc- 
tions respecting the further measures to be pursued 
by you; of the possibility or practicability of those 
you embrace, you must be the best judge, and on your 
doing what is best for the king's service I must and 
do fully rely. 

"Before you undertake anything considerable, I 
must recommend you weighing well the difficulty and 
expense, that must attend the transportation of every 
article you are to be furnished with from here, and 
whether they are likely to be compensated by the ad- 
vantages expected to accrue from such an undertaking. 

"When you write this way, I should be glad to 
receive the best information you can procure in regard 
to the most likely measures to be pursued for conciliat- 
ing the Indians, preventing the rebels' designs, and 
securing the upper country, that when my spring dis- 
patches reach me, I may be better enabled to judge of 
what is best to be done for those purposes."* 

*Haldimand to Hamilton, April 9, 1779, — Haldimand 
MSS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HAMILTON convened the inhabitants of Vin- 
cennes in the church, on the second day after 
his arrival and having "in pretty strong terms 
painted their poltroonery, ingratitude and perfidy," he 
"read them an oath, to be subscribed only by those 
who, being sensible of their fault, should publicly ac- 
knowledge it, and thereby have a claim to the pro- 
tection of the government. The chief people of the 
place have either in an underhand manner or openly 
embraced the rebel party.""^ 

"Having summoned the inhabitants to assemble 
. . . " the Lieutenant Governor afterward wrote, 
"I went to meet them, reproached them for their 
treachery and ingratitude, but told them since they had 
laid down their arms and sued for protection, that, 
on renewing their oath of allegiance, they should be 
secured in their persons and property." "Lenity," 
adds the British commander, 'T thought might induce 
the French inhabitants of Kaskaskia t-o follow their 
example, though the conduct of the Canadians at large 
was but poor encouragement. I read twice to them 
the oath prepared for them to take, explained the nature 
of it, and cautioned them against that levity they had 
so recently given proof of" : 

"We, the undersigned, declare and avow- that we 
have taken the oath of allegiance to Congress, and, in 
so doing, we have forgotten our duty towards God and 
have failed towards men. We ask the pardon of God, 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. (228) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 229 

and we hope for the mercy of our legitimate sover- 
eign, the king of England, and that he will accept 
our submission and take us under his protection as 
good and faithful subjects, which we promise and pray 
to be able to become before God and before men.""^ 

"The oath," says Hamilton, "which I read in the 
church aloud and explained to the inhabitants, I told 
them was not forced upon them but offered for the 
consideration of sober people convinced of their fault, 
who, in their repentance, might be once again received 
under the protection of their king." "Humiliating as 
the oath is," adds the Lieutenant Governor, "one hun- 
dred and fifty-eight signed it in a few days."t 

It is difficult to determine who was the most dis- 
graced : Hamilton in dictating the oath, or the people 
of Vincennes in taking it. The Lieutenant Governor 
was still laboring under the erroneous belief that Con- 
gress had directed all affairs terminating in the con- 
quest of the Illinois towns and those upon the Wabash 
and that the Creole population had taken the oath of 
allegiance to that body only. 

An account was taken of the inhabitants of Vin- 
cennes of all ages and either sex, showing the number 
in the village to be six hundred and twenty-one, of 
whom two hundred and seventeen were "fit to bear 
arms on the spot ;" but there were several men absent, 
hunting buffaloes for their winter provision, not in- 
cluded in the enumeration. The entire population was, 
probably, a little less than six hundred and fifty souls. 
Those who had accepted commissions under Virginia, 

* Same to same, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
tSame to same, Dec. 18-30, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 
(See Appendix, Note LXXI.) 



230 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

now delivered them up;''' and all who had laid down 
their arms and renewed their oath of allegiance, re- 
ceived theirs again, and, on application, had pass- 
ports given them to go hunting. A strict search was 
made for gunpowder; all that was found in the town 
was* put into the magazine in the fort; and a heavy 
fine was laid on those who should be found to conceal 
any ; nevertheless, much of what belonged to the in- 
habitants, Hamilton failed to discover. 

It had already become . a point of consideration 
with Hamilton whether he should proceed directly to 
attack the ''rebels" in the Illinois or be content to 
establish himself in Fort Sackville for the winter. He 
soon decided to remain in Vincennes. Late rains had 
so swollen the rivers as to make it probable he might 
be stopped so long as to consume his provisions be- 
fore he got half way. The condition of the fort was 
such that, to make it tenable, all his available force 
would have to be called into requisition. To leave 
the fortification in such a state with a small garrison 
would be to invite the enemy to go agamst it, as the 
Lieutenant Governor believed, to be joined again by 
the inhabitants notwithstanding their recent oaths. 
The Wabash Indians he found were wavering and 
it would require the presence of some force to keep 
them to what they then professed. Such were Hamil- 
ton's reasons for not moving onward to the attack of 

* The Lieutenant Governor says "those who had accepted 
commissions under Congress delivered them up ;" he should 
have said, "under Virginia;" but, as just explained, he was 
still ignorant that the American conquerors in the Illinois 
were Virginia militia only, the probability being that the 
"commissions written out by Captain Helm were loosely 
worded. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 231 

the Illinois until a more favorable season. Then, too, 
there would be the advantages of commanding the 
Ohio, of cutting off ''rebel" communication by land 
between the Illinois and the Falls of that river, and 
of being situated so as to encourage the Delawares and 
Ottavv^as on White river, who showed marked hostility 
to Americans. There was fear, also, if the march 
against the Illinois was continued, and from any cause 
much prolonged, his Indian auxiliaries would leave 
him in a body.* 

The information sent by Hamilton from Detroit 
to De Peyster, the middle of September, as to his 
determination to set off in a few days for the Illinois 
towns, and the request that the Michilimackinac com- 
mandant should engage his Indians to cooperate with 
him by way of the Illinois river,f were duly received 
by that officer. And the Lieutenant Governor again 
wrote the Major just before starting, leaving direc- 
tions to have his letter forwarded after his departure. 
But Hamilton, even in the first instance, wrote too 
late for immediate action on part of De Peyster. "Had 
the Indians not been gone to their several homes before 
I received Mr. Hamilton's letters," were the words of 
the latter afterward to the commander-in-chief, "it 
would have been in my power to have seconded his 
attempt, which he tells me he directs in person to 
dispossess the rebels at the Illinois." 

■'The Indians at present," he also wrote, "are too 
much dispersed for me to assemble them in a body 
sufficiently strong to go down that river; and I am 
persuaded they would not leave their wives and chil- 

* See Appendix, Note LXXII. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, Sept. 16, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. ; and same to same, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



232 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

dren in their wintering grounds, their having been no 
previous provision made for them. I shall, however, 
send express to the Grand river and on the borders 
of Lake Michigan to endeaver to spirit up the young 
men to join Mr. Hamilton by the most expeditious 
route, ordering them to call at St. Joseph for further 
information of his situation. I shall also write to Mr. 
Chevalier to give Mr. Hamilton every assistance in 
his power, which I fear cannot be much, as the Indians 
mostly are gone to their hunting grounds."* 

In referring further to Chevalier, the commandant 
said: "I have long since by civil treatment, appar- 
ently secured that gentleman to his Majesty's interests, 
foreseeing that he would become useful before those 
troubles could be at an end. The different represen- 
tation of him by Mr. Hamilton and myself must ap- 
pear extraordinary. I can assure your Excellency that 
I never heard anything that could be proven to his dis- 
advantage; on the contrary, whilst at this post, he, 
with a becoming decency, set his enemies at defiance. 
Should he however prove faithless the disadvantages 
arising from my credulity will be greatly overbal- 
anced by advantages that may occur by putting some 

*De Peyster to Haldimand, Oct. 24, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. What little assistance Chevalier was able to give Ham- 
ilton in bringing to him a few Pottawattamies, has already 
been mentioned. 

The Indians that De Peyster would "spirit up" were 
Ottawas and Chippewas. As Grand river flows into Lake 
Michigan on the eastern side, the Indians upon that stream 
and upon the eastern border of the lake, at that time, would, 
in going south to the aid of Hamilton (especially if intending 
to take the route of the Illinois river) reach St. Joseph on 
their way, where, naturally, further information as to the 
movements of the Lieutenant Governor would be attainable. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 233 

confidence in him. This much I am obhged to say in 
vindication of my judgment, as Mr. Hamilton, not- 
withstanding my representation to him, writes me 
that he has represented him to your Excellency in a 
very unfavorable light." 

"I shall take every possible method to procure in- 
telligence of the present state of the Illinois," continues 
De Peyster, "and transmit (if I receive any) by way of 
Detroit during the course of the winter."* 

The request which had been sent by General Hal- 
dimand to De Peyster to give him his views as to 
whether he thought there were any means that might 
be employed with a probability of success to repossess 
the Illinois and what those means -were, if in his opin- 
ion, it might be accomplished, was now answered by 
the Michilimackinac commandant: 

'T have now to offer my sentiments agreeable to 
your Excellency's request, whether anything can be 
done for the recovery of the Illinois : 

"Provided your Excellency's instructions relative 
to stopping the communication of the Ohio be vigor- 
ously put in execution, I am persuaded that Mr. 
Gautier or some other active person may assemble a 
body of Indians in his direct road from La Bay [that 
is, from Green Bay] to Prairie du Chien and in the 
river St. Peter, to go down the Mississippi early in 
the spring, which may be performed from the mouth 
of the Wisconsin in seven Or eight days. That country 
is full of resources, but the Indians must have presents. 
Whenever we fall off in those, they are no more to be 
depended upon. The past is soon forgotten by them, 

*De Peyster to Haldimand, Oct. 24, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS., just before cited. 



234 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

except when they do us a favor. Give the Indians of 
this country a present and they will immediately strive 
to make some trifling return, which, however, we 
must give them four times the value for. To second 
the above mentioned Indians, the Pottawattamies must 
be also ordered to move down the Illinois river fol- 
lowed by the Ottawas and Chippewas; those latter 
will be rather late, but, by sending belts before them 
to assure the Illinois Indians that they came in friend- 
ship to them provided they join in driving out the 
rebels, it will have great effect ; even the brent of their 
intended march will settle them. The inhabitants of 
that country are not to be depended upon should the 
French offer to interfere; otherwise, should they join 
the rebels, it would be through fear of being plundered 
by the stranger Indians.""^ 

On the twenty-fifth of October, Langlade and Gau- 
tier, who had been returned to De Peyster from the 
St. Lawrence, to attend on his orders, arrived at Mich- 
ilimackinac. The commandant immediately deter- 
mined to send them off "to give every assistance in 
their power to Lieutenant Governor Hamilton." He 
provided them with some goods which, he believed, 
with their presence among the savages, would do more 
good than could be expected by sending "belts by the 
hands of Indians." Orders were issued to both, to 
arouse the savages for the purpose of aiding Hamilton. 

Langlade was to go among the Ottawas and Chip- 
pewas who were wintering at Grand river "to make 
them assemble without loss of time," while Gautier 
was to proceed to St. Joseph, where he was to confer 
with Chevalier, requesting him to assist Ainse, De 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 235 

Peyster's interpreter, whom he would send to that 
place, in gathering the Pottawattamies of the neigh- 
borhood together. 

"Gautier," was the order of the commandant, 
"must do his best to get information of the situation 
of Mr. Hamilton, making report of the same to Mr. 
Langlade. They will do their best to join him by 
the shortest route, or to descend the Illinois river if 
it is possible and more likely to assist the operations 
of Mr. Hamilton. 

''Since events cannot be foreseen, in case Mr. Ham- 
ilton has yielded and returned to Detroit, then, if you 
do not believe yourself strong enough in men to attack 
Kaskaskia or Cahokia, you will send the Indians home 
to their winter quarters and will, by the shortest route 
gain your different posts, Mr. Langlade at the Bay 
and Mr. Gautier at the Mississippi, there to try to 
keep the nations well disposed for the service until 
new orders. 

"In this enterprise, it is recommended to you to 
say to the warriors to use humanity towards the pris- 
oners and others who may be found without arms, 
because there are several English traders retained by 
force amongst the rebels. The prisoners will be paid 
for. 

"Since the nations in general have had many pre- 
sents from his Majesty before, it is recommended to 
you to make as little expense as the nature of the 
service will allow, not giving them anything but what 
is absolutely necessary."* 

* Instructions of Major A. S. De Peyster to Capt. Lang- 
lade and Lieut. Gautier, Oct. 26, 1778. — Haldimand MSS. 
(See Appendix, Note LXXIII.) 



236 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



De Peyster felicitated himself (and he so wrote 
the Commander-in-chief) that Hamilton would not 
meet with any impediments from want of such assist- 
ance as it was in his power to give him. At that 
juncture, the Major would have found the aid of the 
sloop Welcome of much advantage, as he was obliged 
to press into his service a man of the place "to make 
out a canoe" for St. Joseph.* 

Langlade, Gautier and Ainse being detained by 
contrary winds, did not reach the mouth of Grand 
river (which stream falls into Lake Michigan at the 
present town of Grand Haven) until the thirteenth of 
November. There Langlade landed, but Gautier and 
Ainse proceeded on to St. Joseph, not arriving there 
because of bad weather until the second of December. 
They found there Chevalier, who had been twenty- 
two days from Hamilton's little army, which passed the 
portage from the Maumee to the waters of the Wabash 
before he left. 

The news that Hamilton had got so far the start 
being received at Grand river, where Langlade had 
succeeded in raising eighty Indians (notwithstanding 
the Ottawas there, because of not having previous 
notice, had already declined the service), they refused 
to follow at so great distance; so his efforts proved 
a failure and he went no farther. Gautier, too, find- 
ing that Chevalier had already taken the few Pottawat- 
tamies, which could be raised at that advanced season 
to Hamilton, was constrained to make no attempt to 
gather any of that nation for a movement in aid of 
the Lieutenant Governor. Langlade then proceeded to 

* De Peyster to Haldimand, Oct. 27, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 237 

Green Bay and Gautier to Prairie du Chien, both 
carrying belts and speeches, exhorting the Indians 
to be ready in the spring, if called upon.''' 

De Peyster was subsequently informed by Chevalier 
that the Pottawattamies who had joined Hamilton 
were returned home to pass the winter, and that they 
brought him a letter from the Lieutenant Governor 
informing him that he did not intend to leave Vin- 
cennes until spring. However, the Michilimackinac 
commander concluded not to postpone any help which 
could possibly be sent him; so he again ordered the 
Ottawas and Chippewas at the Grand river to march 
to his (Hamilton's) aid; and he also sent an express 
to Gautier to move down the Mississippi w^ith all the 
Winnebagoes and Sacs and Foxes he could raise, sug- 
gesting, it seems, that he take with him any Canadians 
that could be prevailed upon to march with him.f 

But the first order he soon countermanded, as he 
learned Detroit was threatened. The savages prop- 
erly called the "Grand River Indians," De Peyster 
advised to go directly to that post, as it was but a 
short cut across the country; while a band was sent 
from Thunder Bay, on the west side of Lake Huron, 
likewise *'to hearten the Indians about Detroit." In 
the last days of March, the Michilimackinac command- 
ant wrote that, by that time, Gautier "should be on 
the march, joined by some active Canadians." J He 

* Same to same, Jan. 29, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 
■ t Same to same, March 29, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. But 
no aid had been or- was sent to Detroit or by way of that 
post, to Hamilton to assist him on his expedition, by the 
Michilimackinac commander or by any of the subordinates of 
the latter. 

t De Peyster to Haldimand, March 29, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



238 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

did march it is true ; that is, he floated down the Mis- 
sissippi, with two hundred and eight Indians — Winne- 
bagoes, Menomonees, Foxes, Ottawas and Chippewas 
— as far as the mouth of Rock river, but did not get 
below that point. 

Langlade, on his arrival at La Bay (that is, at 
Green Bay) from his unsuccessful attempt to rein- 
force Hamilton with Indians wintering at the Grand 
river, received information from the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor _at Vincennes, acquainting him of his determin- 
ation to winter at that place, and was ordered to join 
him early in the spring by way of the Illinois river. 
He attempted to do so with some Indians, but got 
no farther than Milwaukee."^' 

*Same to same, May 13, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

NOW that Hamilton had determined to winter in 
Vincennes, he quickly made up his mind to pro- 
vide coverings for his men, provisions and 
stores ; and, as soon as these were finished, he would 
change the form of the fort to that of a triangle, hav- 
ing a blockhouse at each angle to project over the pick- 
etting. He proposed to do all the work with his own 
men, carrying it forward to completion during the 
winter without any aid from the inhabitants. 
"Though this should be done/' wrote the commander, 
"the village is built in such a manner (a space of one 
hundred feet to two hundred feet and more being left 
tween house and house), that most of the buildings 
might be maintained by a dozen men, and they might 
distress the largest garrison the fort could contain. 
Some houses are near the fort and it would be very ex- 
pensive to purchase them and ruinous to particular 
persons to destroy them. [But] the garrison might 
have it in their power in case of treachery, to burn the 
whole town, either by making sallies in the night or 
firing red-hot bullets."* 

A week after his arrival at Vincennes, the Lieu- 
tenant-Governor made a return of his white force to 
General Haldimand, showing his whole number of 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. The Commander-in-chief, on this information from 
the Lieutenant Governor, says : "He [Hamilton] finds . . . 
the village a detriment to the fort now building ; and immedi- 
ately after, .he thinks it secure, by'proposing means to destroy 
said village ; but he gives no reason why he does not reinove 
the fort from so disadvantageous a situation," 
(239) 



240 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

men including commissioned officers, non-commis- 
sioned officers and privates to be one hundred and 
seventy-six.* He also gave to the commander-in- 
chief, the prices of necessaries which ruled in the 
town. Flour sold at an exorbitant rate, so also 
Indian corn; but fresh beef and buffalo meat 
were cheap. "Wine made here" had a market value 
of nearly five dollars a gallon. f 

On Christmas, Hamilton sent off an express to 
"Mr. [John] Stuart, the agent of Indian affairs to the 
Southward," with a letter informing him of the good 
disposition of the Indians at the north and asking 
those of the south to act vigorously the ensuing spring ; 
also with belts for the Chickasaws and Cherokees, pro- 
posing a meeting with them in the Spring, at Vin- 
cennes or at the Tennessee river, the object of which 
was, to reconcile the Southern Indians with the Shaw- 
anese and other Northern nations, and to concert a 
general invasion of the "rebel" frontiers ; which in- 
vasion had not been mapped out by him when he left 
Detroit, although there was a prospect at that time of 
uniting the Western and Southern Indians and en- 
gaging them to act in concert against the Americans — 
but on what lines was only the remotest conjecture. J 
What prompted the sending of this express was, a re- 
port he had just received that four hundred Shawa- 
nese, Delawares, Ottawas and Cherokees were then as- 
sembled at the mouth of the Tennessee with design to 
intercept "rebel" boats passing and repassing the 

* Appendix, Note LXXIV. 
fid. 

X Alexander McKee to Haldimand, July 16, 1779. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 241 

Ohio."^ But he soon learned what confidence was to 
be placed, as a general thing, In Indian accounts. 

Hamilton had, previously, sent out scouts towards 
Kaskaskia; these now brought in two prisoners from 
the Illinois, who gave information that no boats had 
lately arrived from New Orleans; that the ''rebels" 
did not exceed eighty at Kaskaskia, or thirty at Caho- 
kia ; that there had been a recent arrival of Pottawatta- 
mies at the Illinois; and that there was no discipline 
among the "rebel" soldiers enforced. Prompted by 
this information, doubtless, the Lieutenant-Governor 
at once sent two Pottawattamie chiefs of Detroit on a 
mission to those of their tribe just mentioned. The 
two savages promised they would return as soon as 
they could execute their orders. f 

The Lieutenant-Governor informed his superior 
officer that Captain Helm remained at Vincennes on 
his parole and would not leave until it could be known 
if the Governor of Virginia would permit his ex- 
change for Rocheblave then supposed to be in Wil- 
liamsburg. He suggested to General Haldimand that 
"the arrival of a reinforcement of troops from Detroit 
early in the Spring," would enable him to send home 
the volunteer militia who accompanied him only for 
the campaign.^ 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. ; and same to same, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
This last-mentioned "design" was exactly in accordance with 
Haldimand's views as expressed in his letter to Hamilton of 
the 26th of August previous. It did not contemplate a "gen- 
eral invasion of the rebel frontiers." 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 28-30, 1778. — H aldimand 
AISS. 

X Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. "He [Hamilton] mentions a reinforcement next 

16 



242 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



Hamilton again called the attention of the Com- 
mander-in-chief to De Celoron, declaring him mifit to 
remain as commandant at Wea ; — 'liis pusillanimity 
drove him four hundred miles from his post; and he 
never waited to have certain accounts verified, but 
forged such as his fears or credulity suggested."* 

A barrack of logs and boards capable of receiving 
fifty men was the first thing built for the soldiers. 
Two companies at once moved in, while the residue of 
the troops remained tented in the fort, until lodgings 
could be prepared for them. A w^ell was commenced 
and a magazine for powder soon finished. 

'This day" (Hamilton was writing on the twenty- 
seventh of December) ''two Dela wares came in, who 
heard the morning and evening gun, as they say, at the 
distance of three days' march. "f "They say belts are 
gone," continues the Lieutenant-Governor, "from the 
Chickasaws and Cherokees to the Shawanese and Del- 
awares asking them to forget former quarrels and to 
unite against the Virginians. The messengers are 
expected to be here in a few days. These Delawares 

Spring from Detroit, but does not mention what number he 
wants, neither if he has ordered said reinforcement, or if 
the Commander-in-chief is to order it." — Haldimand's Re- 
marks on Lieut. Gov. Hamilton's Letter: Haldimand MSS. 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. "He [Hamilton] thinks De Celoron unfit to remain 
commandant at Ouiatanon [Wea], as if he was there again, 
which he ought to mention, but says he left it in a fright 
and went 400 miles from it" — Haldimand : Remarks on 
Lieut. Gov. Hamilton's Letter. 

t "He [Hamilton] speaks ... of Indians who arrived 
and told they had heard a morning and evening gun three 
days' march off. If it is his, he must have a great deal of 
powder to waste during the winter." — Haldimand. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 243 

confirm the accounts of a number of Shawanese, Ot- 
tawas, Chickasaws and Cherokees being assembled at 
the Tennessee river. They add that some one em- 
ployed for his Majesty has invited all the Southern na- 
tions to convene at the same place next Spring to come 
to Vincennes to drive out the rebels and their friends ; 
that the people now there were to interecept the rebel 
boats on the Ohio and Mississippi ; and the rebels were 
dispossessed lately of a settlement of the river last 
mentioned by the English." 

On the same day, the British commander contin- 
ued his letter to the Commander-in-chief : 

''This day a party of Kickapoos went to war to- 
ward Kaskaskia. This makes me easy as to the In- 
dians of this [the Wabash] river, who will follow im- 
plicitly the example of the Kickapoos — the most war- 
like and cruel of them all." But the going "to war 
toward Kaskaskia" by no means implied that Hamilton 
had authorized the savages to attack any of the Creoles 
of the IlHnois villages ; on the contrary he had given 
express orders that none should be killed. They might 
be taken prisoners and brought to him ; that was all. 
But any Virginians might be tomahawked and scalped 
that could be found. As a consequence of these in- 
structions by the Lieutenant-Governor, the garrisons 
under Clark were in reality in little or no danger from 
the Indians going from Vincennes as they would al- 
most certainly be discovered by the inhabitants of the 
towns if attempting to approach near .to either of 
them. 

''As I had engaged the volunteer militia of De- 
troit for the campaign," wrote the Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, "they were . . . advertised that they would 



244 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

be allowed to return with twenty days' pay from the 
date of their discharge.""' The truth was, Captain 
McLeod's men, also Captain Maisonville's, had nearly 
all began to murmur and complain ; — they ''had tes- 
tified so much uneasiness and willingness to remain,'' 
are Hamilton's words, ''that I chose to send them away 
rather than keep them against their inclination." All 
of the two companies returned to Detroit except five 
privates, the major, one captain, one lieutenant, the 
surgeon and boatmaster. 

"Several persons," the Lieutenant-Goveror wrote, 
"who had been on pay as partisans with the Indians 
I believe fomented this discontent, which I attributed 
to their surmizing that France would join the Ameri- 
cans." "These people," adds the commander, "I dis- 
charged and sent away." There were four lieutenants 
and one commissioner of provisions, of those he thus 
gladly permitted to return to their homes. 

Two hundred and fifty of the mihtia of Vincennes 
made their appearance on the same day of the depart- 
ure of the Detroit militia, under arms, with their of- 
ficers. All of them had previously taken the oath of 
allegiance and renounced their late connection with the 
"rebels." "They are, of course, pardoned," wrote 
Hamilton. "I hope your Excellency," he added in his 
remarks to General Haldimand, "will approve of this 
act of oblivion. If a sense of interest can move them, 
they will adhere to it. As to courage, honor, or grat- 
itude, if they were of the growth of this soil, it would 
have been exhibited on the occasion of a handful of 
rebels coming to take away the possessions of three 

* Appendix, Note LXXV. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 245 

hundred men used to arms as hunters and to the mild- 
est government under heaven." 

"It will be a great satisfaction to me," are the 
further words of the commander to Haldimand, "to 
have your Excellency's orders, and as soon as possible, 
to resign to the person you shall send to command 
here""^ — Hamilton being satisfied that the prestige or 
interests of Britain could only be maintained in Vin- 
cennes by military force. 

Hamilton ended his lengthy letter to the com- 
mander-in-chief by giving him information on a num- 
ber of subjects : 

"I have taken up all the spirituous liquors in the 
place, which is better, surely, for the good behavior of 
the inhabitants. . . 

"Tomorrow [he was still writing on the twenty- 
seventh] I shall destroy two bihiard tables, the sources 
of immorality and dissipation in such a settlement. 

"Could I catch the priest — Mr. Gibault — who 
has blown the trumpet of rebellion for the Americans, 
I should send him down unhurt to your Excellency, to 
get the reward of his zeal. 

"The Pottawattamies whom I sent towards Kas- 
kaskia are returned; 'the waters being out,' as they 
say, prevented their progress. They brought in a 
Frenchman, prisoner, who had nothing new to tell. 

"Several chiefs and warriors are returned to their 
villages seemingly well satisfied, and have promised to 
return if it should be necessary. The diminution of 
our numbers is a necessary step as the consumption of 
provisions during their stay is very considerable.f 

*Id. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 18-30, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. "Vincennes, Dec. 30th, 1778, the express sets out." 



246 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The general plan devised by Hamilton to be car- 
ried out in strengthening Fort Sackville was, at the 
suggestion of Major Hay, soon changed. The forti- 
fication was to be left in a square form with a 
blockhouse to be erected at the northwest angle and 
one at the opposite angle, each commanding two sides 
of the square, — the small salient angle in each face of 
the square to be removed. This proposition, if carried 
out, it was believed would reduce the expense consid- 
erably and make the fort capable of being more easily 
defended with a small force. The block houses were 
to be musket proof, and each to have five forts. In 
them, were to be mounted the three-pounders found in 
the fort when surrendered by Captain Helm. The 
other angles were to be loop-holed and lined, having 
platforms for musketry. The work, as thus finally de- 
termined upon, was carried forward with considerable 
rapidity. 

The information received by the Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor concerning the assembhng of the Southern In- 
dians at the Tennessee river was by no means lost 
sight of by that ofhcer. By a careful comparison of 
all reports which had reached him, he was able to un- 
derstand clearly the design of these savages. They 
were to make four several parties for the ensuing 
spring: one to go towards Kaskaskia to attack the 
"rebels" there; another to go up the Ohio to assist the 
Shawanese ; a third to go to the Vincennes to make 
peace with the Wabash Indians and drive the Amer- 

are the last words of the Lieutenant Governor's letter. Singu- 
larly enough, Haldimand did not comprehend the meaning of 
the words — "the waters being out" — made use of by the 
Indians to convey the idea of the overflow of the streams 
and consequent inundation of the country. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 247 

icans out of their country (they not knowing of Ham- 
ilton's presence there at the time), and the fourth to 
remain at the mouth of the Tennessee river to inter- 
cept any boats coming up from the Mississippi or 
going down the Ohio. The nations reported to the 
commander as having formed this plan were the 
Chickasaws, Cherokees, Choctaws and Alabamas."^ It 
was also reported that they were to start out during 
the month of January, having with them four white 
officers, who have spent the winter thus far, on the 
Tennessee. 

Hamilton, of course, was much elated at the news. 
He had already detached from his force an officer with 
thirty soldiers, also a party of savages with a chief, to 
go to the Tennessee river to acquaint the savages as- 
sembled there of his being in possession of Vincennes 
and to encourage them to persevere in their designs 
against the ''rebels." At the mouth of the Wabash, 
they were met by some Delawares and Peorias who 
had lately come from the Tennessee, who informed 
them that the Indians were dispersed, hunting three 
hundred miles up that river.f Thereupon the officer 
and white soldiers, after losing a corporal and seven 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Jan. 24-28, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note LXXVI.) 

t These savages, for certain reasons hereafter mentioned, 
did not meet subsequently at the mouth of the Tennessee. 
It may be premised that whatever action was taken by the 
British because of the letter sent south by Hamilton, to 
Stuart, British agent of Indian Affairs, nothing to the injury 
of the Americans came of it. It has been asserted that stores 
and goods to a large amount (£20,000) were soon 'collected at 
the Chickamauga Indian towns, on the Tennessee, for dis- 
tribution at the grand council to be had with Hamilton and 
the Northern Indians : but this is now known to be error. 



248 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

men by desertion, and capturing some Frenchmen, in 
a boat loaded with flour on its way from Kaskaskia to 
Vincennes, returned up the Wabash, informing Ham- 
ilton that the deserters, who were all from Lamothe's 
company, went off in the night, taking the canoe and 
their officer's baggage with them; and that they had 
probably gone to Kaskaskia, where some of them had 
relatives. But the Indians with the chief (an Ottawa) 
did not at once return to Vincennes. They deter- 
mined upon "a decoiLverte," as Hamilton expresses it, 
to Kaskaskia. With this war-party were Charles 
Beaubien, interpreter to the Miami Indians and Hy- 
polite Boulon who had reached the mouth of the Wa- 
bash on their way to Kaskaskia or its vicinity. Ham- 
ilton had intrusted to them written messages and let- 
ters to the inhabitants of the Illinois,^ to be delivered 
should circumstances be found favorable for so doing ; 
hence their desire to go with the Ottawa chief on his 
''decoiivcrte" to Kaskaskia. Now, there was one mes- 
sage — a copy of a written proclamation — intrusted 
to Beaubien, directed to the people of the Illinois gen- 
erally, that was intended to work upon their fears, but 
which proved, as the sequel shows, far-reaching in its 
effect for evil — not upon the Illinois people, but upon 
Hamilton himself. He gave in detail a list of savage 
nations whom he declared were already leagued with 
him to wage war on the frontiers. f 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

t But if you will be so good as to recur to the address 
of [Hamilton to the people of] the Illinois, which you refer 
to, you will find that although it does not in express terms 
threaten vengeance, blood and massacre, yet it proves that the 
Governor [Hamilton] had made for us the most ample pro- 
vision for all these calamities. He then gives in detail, the 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 249 

The war party of savages from the mouth of the 
Wabash were not successful in its march against Kas- 
kaskia. "The Indian chief," wrote Hamilton, "who 
is not yet returned from Kaskaskia, had nearly taken 
prisoner Colonel Clark, the commandant of the rebels 
there, but some negroes discovered the chief and he 
was obliged to retire without effecting his purpose.* 
But further mention of this expedition is hereafter 
made. 

There were other matters besides repairing Fort 
Sackville and attending to Indian reports which en- 
gaged the earnest attention of Hamilton. One was 
the attitude of the Spanish towards the English on the 
Mississippi. The aid given by the former to the 
*Vebels" at New Orleans and the sympathy extended 
to them (if nothing more) at Ste. Genevieve and St. 
Louis were well understood by the Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor even before his leaving Detroit and additional 
facts had now reached him from the disclosures of 
prisoners which gave him much uneasiness. He re- 
solved, after giving the subject much thought to write 
two letters : one to Captain Bloomer, the English com- 
mandant at the Natches, whose principal business was 
to intercept succour from New Orleans to the "rebels ;" 

horrid catalogue of savage nations, extending from south to 
north, whom he had leagued with himself to wage combined 
war on our frontiers ; and it is well known that the war 
would, of course, be made up of blood and general massacre 
of men, women and children." — (Jefferson to the Governor 
of Detroit — Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 322.) 

As this proclamation was dated Dec. 29, 1778, the sending 
of the force intended for the Tennessee, could not have been 
much, if any, later than that date. 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Jan. 24-30th, 1779. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. 



250 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and one to the Spanish governor of the place last men- 
tioned. As he had some suspicion what he wrote to 
Captain Bloomer might be carried to Governor Gal- 
vez, he wrote, he declares in such a manner "as must 
dispose the Spaniards (if it should chance to fall into 
their hands) to keep close at home." 

''Though I have no doubt at this minute," said 
Hamilton in conveying the foregoing intelligence to 
the com.mander-in-chief, ''of the existence of a Spainsh 
as well as a French war, still I have as yet no account 
by which I may venture to act on the offensive against 
the subjects of Spain, which I ardently desire, as there 
would be so little difficulty in pushing them entirely 
out of the Mississippi. They have had but one boat 
from New Orleans this autumn and that loaded with 
liquor. The garrisons in their posts are inconsider- 
able and our alliance with the Indian nations so ex- 
tended that the Spaniards can have but a slender in- 
fluence with them. The rebels have had every succour 
and encouragement from them they could expect; and 
I believe their hatred and jealousy of the English noth- 
ing abated since their disgraceful check at the Ha- 
vana."* 

"Mr. Le Comte having desired permission to pass 
to New Orleans," said Hamilton, in his letter to Gov- 
ernor Galvez, "I embrace the opportunity of kissing 
your Excellency's hands and at the same time of ac- 
quainting you with the circumstance which procures 
me that honor. The rebel Americans having got 
footing in the Illinois country, and having opened 
communication to the colonies by taking post there and 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Jan. 24-30, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



. HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 251 

at this place, I thought it my duty to dispossess them 
as soon as possible. For this I set out with a small 
force from Detroit so late as the seventh of last Oc- 
tober and arrived here on the seventeenth of Decem- 
ber, having a few chiefs and warriors of thirteen dif- 
ferent nations along with me. Having taken posses- 
sion of the fort here and having received the submis- 
sion of the inhabitants, who laid down their arms and 
swore allegiance to his Britannic Majesty, I have con- 
tented myself this winter with sending out parties to 
different quarters." 

''Your Excellency," continued the Lieutenant- 
Governor, "cannot be unacquainted with what was 
commonly practiced in the time of your predecessor in 
the government of New Orleans, — I mean the send- 
ing supplies of gunpowder and other stores to the 
rebels then in arms against their sovereign. Though 
this may have been transacted in a manner unknown to 
the governor, by the merchants, I must suppose that, 
under your Excellency's orders, such commerce will 
be positively prohibited. The several nations of sav- 
ages who accompanied me to this country may, if this 
traffic be continued, forget the instructions I have 
given them from time to time with relation to the sub- 
jects of his Catholic Majesty; and the nations inhab- 
iting the banks of the Ohio river must be particularly 
jealous of strangers coming through their country to 
supply the rebels, with whom they are actually at war." 

"At the same time," added the commander, "that 
I mention this to your Excellency for the sake of indi- 
viduals who might suffer from their ignorance of the 
English being in possession of this post and of the 
communication by water to the Mississippi, — I think 



252 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

it incumbent on me to represent to your Excellency 
that the rebels at Kaskaskia being in daily apprehen- 
sion of the arrival of a body of men from the upper 
posts accompanied by the savages from that quarter, 
have declared that they will take refuge on the Spanish 
territory as soon as they are apprized of their coming." 

"As it is my intention," are the concluding words 
of Hamilton, "early in the spring to go towards the 
Illinois, I shall represent to the officers commanding 
several small forts and posts on the Mississippi for his 
Catholic Majesty, the impropriety of affording an 
asylum to rebels in arms against their lawful sover- 
eign. If, after such a representation, the rebels should 
find shelter in any fort or post on the Mississippi, it 
will become my duty to dislodge them, in which case 
their protectors must blame their own conduct, if they 
should suffer any inconvenience in consequence. — 
Perhaps I may be favored with a letter from your Ex- 
cellency before the arrival of the reinforcements I ex- 
pect next spring; and that the officers acting under 
your Excellency's orders may receive from you how 
they are to act — whether as friends or enemies to the 
British empire.""^ 

Strengthening Fort Sackville was continued by 
Hamilton, his attention being especially directed to the 
finishing of the blockhouses, which were being built of 
squared oak logs. Indian war-parties continued to 
be sent out towards the Kentucky settlements and to 
watch the road to the Illinois.' As the month of Jan- 
uary was wearing away, the Lieutenant-Governor be- 
came anxious as to his situation. "I impatiently wait 
your Excellency's orders and instructions," are his 

* Hamilton to Galvez, Jan. 13, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 253 

words to the Commander-in-Chief ; "and I hope to see 
a few troops here, — without them, most certainly 
there will be no hold on the French or Indians and 
nothing can be done of what ought to be against the 
Americans."* 

The commander determined that as soon as the 
season would permit, he would send up to the head of 
the Maumee for the provisions which had been 
received there in November previous from De- 
troit, — sent forward by Captain Lernoult not a great 
while after the departure of Hamilton. "Vincennes," 
wrote the Lieutenant-Governor, "is incapable of fur- 
nishing a quantity, and everything is so intolerably 
dear that I am afraid of incurring more expense than 
I can possibly avoid. Our men off duty, go over the 
river for wood, but cannot cut enough for their con- 
sumption, so that it is purchased from the inhabitants 
at two dollars for four-fifths of a cord." 

"Lieutenant Du Vernet," added the commander, 
"has desired leave to return to Detroit. I could wish 
to detain him, but he urges it; and, as he came thus 
far voluntarily, I do not choose to insist on his re- 
maining."f 

In his own room on Fort Sackville, the com- 
mander, on the twenty-sixth of January, held a council 
with his Indian alhes and with others who now seemed 
inclined, to all outward appearance, to become such. 
There were present Shawanese, Ottawas, Chippewas, 
Wyandots (Hurons), Miamis, Piankeshaws, Kicka- 
poos, Weas, Delawares and a man from the Creek 
nation. 

*Same to Haldimand, Jan. 24-30, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. 
tid. 



254 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

An Ottawa chief opened the proceedings. Ris- 
ing to his feet, he saluted "the British King, the great 
chief at Quebec [General Haldimand], the Lieutenant- 
Governor of Detroit, all the King's subjects, and the 
several nations of Indians," — all in the name of the 
chiefs then present. He then addressed himself to the 
Shawanese and Delawares, in particular, exhorting 
them to exert themselves and be firm in their attach- 
ment to their father [Hamilton] and all the Indians 
his children. "It is the pleasure," said this Indian or- 
ator, "of the Great Spirit that we should all meet this 
day in friendship. Let us then continue in these good 
dispositions and be of one heart and mind in acting in 
concert with our father for the defence of our lands. 
You see our father has it at heart, since he is come 
thus far with that design. You have seen the at- 
tempts of the Virginians to dispossess us." 

And thus continued the Ottawa chief: "Breth- 
ren ! You know that the great tree under whose shade 
w^e consult together is not planted here, but at Detroit. 
Let us take care to prop that tree that it may not lean 
to one side or the other. Let us keep it well watered 
that its branches may shoot up to the clouds. Who 
is there so daring as to cut the bark of that tree ? No 
one. 

"Brethren! You may remember that last spring 
some Chickasaws and Cherokees came to Detroit to 
water that tree. Be advised by our father ; he is doing 
all he can to maintain us in the possession of those 
lands on which the Master of Life has thought to 
place us." 

A Shawanese then spoke. "Father and you my 
brethren ! Five months are now passed since we left 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 255 

our own village to go to the Creek country, whence we 
are just returned. On our leaving this place, the com- 
mandant of the fort [Captain Helm] gave us a letter 
for the chief of the Creeks ; but, as we apprehended it 
might contain something which would make the In- 
dians uneasy, we did not deliver it, but have brought 
it to our father sealed. We met on our road hither, 
Kissingua and a white man [those that were sent to 
Mr. Stuart by Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton] on 
their way to that country. Kissingua desired us to tell 
the Indians of this [the Wabash] river to assemble all 
the prisoners they may have belonging to the Creeks, 
as he designed bringing in exchange any of them 
which might be in that country." 

The Shawanese then delivered the letter to the 
Lieutenant-Governor, which was addressed to the 
chief man of the Creeks, requiring him to keep his 
people quiet and not to give credit to what he should 
be told by the English; and that the Shawanese and 
Wabash Indians were in friendship with the Virgin- 
ians, and referring him to the bearers for an account of 
the state of affairs in America. 

The same Shawanese then produced a long, white 
belt, sent by the great chief of the Creeks, which he 
had desired might be delivered at Vincennes ; then sent 
up to Wea ; and thence to the Lake Indians ; that 
all the Indians might know the design of the 
Creeks, namely: to be in friendship with them and 
at war with the Virginians ; that, by that belt they 
opened a road which should be kept free and open so 
that a child might walk safely in it. He then deliv- 
ered to the Grande Couette, the principal Piankeshaw 
war chief, a roll of Creek tobacco for him and his al- 



256 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

lies to smoke, adding in the name of the Creek chief, 
that he smoked of that tobacco when he thought on 
good things, and had pity on his women and children. 

The Shawanese then told the chiefs present that 
the upper town of the Creeks had not taken up the 
hatchet against the Virginians till the last Spring, but 
that now they were all joined; that they had ravaged 
the frontiers as far as the old Shawanese villages ; that 
they had taken several small forts ; that the English 
had eight forts besides, a great one of stone (perhaps 
meaning the one at St. Augustine) ; that the "rebels" 
had made an attempt on that one, but that the Indians 
had assembled and forced them back; that eight hun- 
dred of the inhabitants of the Colonies had come for 
protection to the English, almost naked ; that they had 
quarreled among each other and several had been 
killed; that the Indians were taken great care of by 
Mr. Stuart, the Indian agent; that they wanted for 
nothing, having never before been so well supplied; 
and that the "rebels" said they were not alone — the 
French and the Spaniards having joined them.* 

Three days thereafter, the Grande Couette, a 
Piankeshaw chief, delivered to Lieutenant-Governor 
Hamilton a string with a scalp hanging to it, and said 
that he spoke in the name of all the Wabash Indians, 
who had now found their father; that they had re~ 
ceived his hatchet and would use it with all their 
hearts; that they saw with pleaasure the messengers 
from the Creeks, Choctaws and Chickasaws, and the 
belt which they brought would open the eyes of all 
their people, men, women and children, who might 

* Substance of a Conference with the Indians at Vincen- 
nes, Jan. 26, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 257 

now see an open sky and a clear road; that the Great 
Spirit certainly had compassion on the Indians as he 
had brought them together in peace; that he (the 
Piankeshaw chief) would acquaint the Wabash In- 
dians of the treaty of peace presented by the Southern 
Indians ; and, that it might be known to the northward, 
he delivered their road belt to the Miamis. The 
Miamis said they would deliver it to their elders, the 
Ottawas, who would forward it. The string with the 
scalp was then delivered by Hamilton to the Chippe- 
was to carry to Detroit to be shown to the Lake In- 
dians.* 

On the twenty-sixth of January, Hamilton wrote 
the commander-in-chief that almost all the Indians 
were gone to their home or were on the point of mov- 
ing off. The most of them, he declared, promised to 
return to Vincennes soon or send others in their room. 
"It is remarkable," said the Lieutenant-Governor, 
"that not a man has died of either whites or Indians 
since our setting out [from Detroit], which circum- 
stance has great weight with superstitious people such 
as these are [under my command]." 

"Your Excellency will pardon me," continued 
Hamilton, "if I mention the necessity of a supply of 
arms, ammunition and clothing sufficient for keeping 
in their present disposition such a number of Indians 
as we wish to have dependent on us and of course can- 
not be clothed, armed or fed but at a very great ex- 
pense. I have it not in my power, as yet, to procure 
an estimate of the numbers which will make their ap- 
plications at this place ; but I am humbly of opinion no 

* Hamilton's Report, Jan. 29, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 
(See Appendix, Note LXXVII.) 
17 



258 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

time should be lost in sending them from below, as the 
passage of the Miami river [Maumee] is very precar- 
ious even in May, from the scarcity of water, which is 
so great sometimes as not to admit of pirogues. 

"However inconvenient and disagreeable my stay- 
ing at this place may be, I shall content myself as long 
as your Excellency may judge it necessary or in any 
way conducive to the service ; and if there should be a 
call for my going further on this communication, I 
shall always be ready to act for the best." 

The next day Hamilton continued his relation : 
"The Ottawas," said he, "came to me this day with 
their chiefs, who told me they were determined to stay 
with me and go wherever I should order them ; and 
that if I meant to go to Kaskaskia, they would go also. 

"The Chippewas almost all go home ; but they tell 
me I may expect a number of them in the spring. 

"The Hurons [Wyandots] also go home; but they 
promise to give such an account of their treatment and 
of what has passed as will induce their people to come 
this way in the spring. 

"The Shawanese are inveterate against the Vir- 
ginians. A party of them sets ofif to-morrow towards 
the Falls of the Ohio, which river they purpose 
crossing. 

"The Delawares [or Loupes] hereabouts have lost 
some relations lately killed by the Virginians. One of 
them has a rebel passport which he makes use of to 
get through the settlement. 

"The Wabash Indians are to be expected to act 
only from the motive of fear of the other confederate 
Indians — not having the spirit of either the South- 
ern or Northern nations. Their situation makes them 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 259 

apprehensive of another visit from the Virginians. 
Nothing but a force sufficient to protect them v^ill en- 
gage them to act steadily."* 

Major Hay, as Deputy Indian Agent, had assid- 
uously applied himself to the duties of his office since 
his arrival in Vincennes. Before the ending of Jan- 
uary, he wrote to the Agent at Niagara: ''We are," 
said he, ''at so great a distance from one another at 
present that it is impossible to communicate Indian 
intelligence so often as formerly. You have, how- 
ever, been informed of everything of consequence (if 
anything there was) until our arrival here. It was 
high time some measures were taken to calm the minds 
of the nations in this country, and to turn the tide that 
was carrying them away from the interest of Govern- 
ment and consequently their own. They have not, 
however, shown the spirit or inclination to act that 
might have been wished ; neither is there anything to 
be expected from them, but what the influence of other 
nations may prompt them to do . . . but, as there 
is now a communication opened between the Lake In- 
dians and those of the Creeks and Alabamas, probably 
before the summer is over they will all act. The diffi- 
culties of transportation of provisions and other arti- 
cles from Detroit hither is a great obstacle to the as- 
sembling the numbers that we might easily collect. A 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, January 24-30, 1779. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. "The several nations of Indians inhabiting the 
banks of the Ouabache [Wabash], came in at different times, 
made great professions, and declared their distrust of the Vir- 
ginians ; but there was but one chief with his party who 
really acted with zeal and spirit, although the Lake Indians 
showed them a very good example." — • Hamilton to Haldi- 
mand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



260 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST,, ETC. 

party of Shawanese, Delawares and Piankeshaws set 
out this day for the Falls of the Ohio, by which you 
see some of those of this place join the last." 

"If the inhabitants of this place," continued Hay, 
"were as much to be depended on as are the Indians, 
something might be attempted at present from here; 
but there are a set that requires force to make them 
obedient and are consequently a dangerous set to be 
left in the least [to themselves] . . . The rebel 
commandant, Captain Helm, told me that, for these 
two summers past, the parties that went from Detroit 
and the Lakes prevented upwards of ten thousand men 
joining the rebel army. We have not heard from De- 
troit since the fourth of November ; but I am in hopes 
of hearing not only from there, but from Niagara."* 

Writing on the same day as Hay, the Lieutenant- 
Governor informed General Haldimand that he had 
first raised one of the blockhouses of the fort, and that 
a party (the same mentioned by the Deputy Indian 
Agent) had set off on a scout to the Falls of the Ohio 
— another of PottaAvattamies and Chippewas to follow 
them shortly. "Lieutenant Duvermet tells me," are 
the words of Hamilton, in addition, "he shall have the 
draft of this river ready to send off to your Excellency 
in a week after his arrival at Detroit." It is to be 
presumed the Lieutenant soon left Vincennes. 

*Hay to Butler, January 28, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 
It is doubtful if any single remark made by any one could 
have been more unfortunate than this of Helm, so far as 
the cause of America was concerned in the West. To prevent 
men from joining the "rebel" army in the East was exactly 
what Germain was desirous of accomplishing by his barbarous 
policy, as Hay well knew. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 261 

The commandant informed the Commander-in- 
Chief on the thirtieth of January, that the next day, 
Adhemar St. Martin, the Commissary, would set out, 
with ten pirogues and thirty of the inhabitants of Vin- 
cennes as crews, for ''the Miamis" (Fort Miami — 
head of the Maumee), to get the provisions and goods 
sent in November from Detroit.* And he added 
that a party of Piahkeshaws on the day on which he 
writes "set off for war to the Fahs of the Ohio. This 
day, also, a Peoria chief came to give me his hand. I 
gave him an English medal in exchange for his French 
one." 

'T may venture to affirm," continued Hamilton, 
"that the Indians of this country are as much united 
as can be expected, considering the differences which 
have existed for several years among some of them 
and which are not easily accommodated.". 

"By the returns I have the honor to send to your 
Excellency of this garrison," added the Lieutenant- 
Governor, "it will appear that regulars are very few in 
numbers ; and I need not observe how much I stand in 
need of the assistance of regular officers. I have such 
frequent interruptions from the savages, who have no 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Jan. 24-30, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. The provisions were those sent by Lernoult; the 
goods, those forwarded by Macomb. In his letter of July 6, 
1781, the Lieutenant Governor simply says "thirty men" went 
with the Commissary. 

In "Bowman's Journal" in the Department of State MSS., 
December (1778) is given as the month in which the boats 
were ordered to "Omi" (Fort Miami — head of the Maumee) 
by Hamilton, which, of course, is error. In the same, in 
Clark's Campaign in the Illinois (p. 108), the mpnth is stated 
to have been October (1778) — placing it still farther from 
the true date. 



262 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

other council chamber but my bedroom, that I am sen- 
sible my letters testify to a great want of order and 
method."==-^ 

On the seventh of February, Captain McKee 
started on his return to the homes of the Shawanese in 
the Ohio wilderness.* It was well, perhaps, for this 
traitor to America that he left Vincennes. His active 
working connection with the expedition was the first 
of a series of efforts made by him against his own 
country. Undoubtedly it was his intention to come 
back in the Spring to aid in the movement of uniting 
the Northern and Southern Indian nations. But his 
intention was not carried out.f 

Hamilton continued his labors upon Fort Sack- 
ville, and by the twenty-second of February it was ''in 
a tolerable state of defence," the work proposed being 
finished, except the lining of the stockade.:]: 

On the same day, Boatmaster Francis Maisonville 
returned bv way of the Wabash from an expedition in 
pursuit of Williams (one of the two who were taken 
while attempting to carry Helm's letter to Clark at the 
time of the surrender of Fort Sackville) and another, 
who had escaped a week previous. Maisonville had 
been unsuccessful in finding these men, but he brought 
in two Virginian prisoners — Captain William Shan- 
non and another — whom he had taken on the Ohio. 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Jan. 24-30, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. (For the "Return" the Lieutenant Governor speaks 
of, see Appendix, Note LXXVIII.) 

t Normand McLeod to McKee, April 6, 1779, and McKee 
to Haldimand, July 16, same year. — Haldimand MSS. 

X Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
The last sentence — "except the lining of the stockade" — 
is omitted in this letter as published in the Michigan Pioneer 
Collections, vol. IX, p. 408. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 263 



They were of a party of four from Fort Pitt going to* 
Kaskaskia. A packet of letters in their possession was 
also captured."^ 

On going into the fort, Maisonville immediately 
took Hamilton aside and informed him that he had 
discovered some miles below the town a number of 
fires ;t but he could not say whether they were of Vir- 
ginians or Indians. The Lieutenant-Governor imme- 
diately questioned the two prisoners, demanding of 
them if they could give him any further intelligence 
than what they had already communicated on their ex- 
amination by the commandant. They declared they 
could not. Hamilton at once concluded the fires were 
those of Americans — some men from Kaskaskia com- 
ing to join Captain Helm at the fort, they not know- 
ing of the presence there of any of the King's troops.$ 
However, he would, if possible, be assured that such 

"^ Account brought [into Detroit] from Vincennes, by 
Captain [Isidore] C/z^^n^. — Haldimand MSS. ; Journal of 
Coloncd George Rogers Clark, from Feb. 23, to Feb. 27, 1779, 
inclusive. — Haldimand MSS. ; Hamilton to Haldimand, July 
Q^ 1781 — Germain MSS.. Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
pp. 70, 102 ; — "Bowman's Journal," Department of State 
MSS. 

t"Nine miles below the town": Schieffelin's Loose 
Notes. "Four leagues below the fort:" Hamilton to Haldi- 
mand, July 6, 1781 — Germain MSS. "About six miles^:" 
Chesne's Account. Schieffelin, in his Loose Notes, says,^ "a 
number of fires was seen;" in his letter to Haldimand, just 
cited, Hamilton enumerates fourteen. Chesne gives fifteen 
as the number. 

t Chesne's Account. Clark says Hamilton "supposed [the 
makers of the fires] to be spies from Kentucky." (Clark to 
Uidison — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 70.) This, 
however, is not probable ; I have relied, rather, on the state- 
ment of Chesne. 



264 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



was the fact; so he immediately sent off Captain 
Lamothe, Lieutenant Schieffehn and twenty men to 
reconnoitre, hoping they would be able to bring him a 
more perfect account than the one he had obtained 
from Maisonville. As the water of the river was 
overflowing its banks the meadows were all sub- 
merged ; and it was necessary for the party to make a 
considerable circuit. Maisonville, although much 
fatigued, took it upon himself to serve as guide.* 

Hamilton now ordered the militia of Vincennes 
under arms. Major Legras and Captain Bosseron 
with several of the privates being reported absent, the 
commandant suspected treachery; the two officers, 
however, made their appearance at sunset. About five 
minutes after candles had been lighted, the garrison 
was alarmed by hearing a discharge of musketry; 
presently, there was another discharge. The Lieu- 
tenant-Governor concluded that some party of Indians 
was returned, or that there was a riotous frolic in the 
village. However, he thought best to go out on the 
parade ground to make inquiry, when he heard the 
whistling of balls. Immediately all inside the fort 
were ordered to the blockhouses, with a command not 
to fire until they should perceive the shots were di- 
rected against the fortification. But Hamilton and his 
men were soon out of suspense — one of the sergeants 
receiving a bullet in his bre ast.f The fort was as- 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
In his Loose Notes, Lieutenant Schieffelin does not give the 
number sent off, but says: "A detachment of the Vlllth 
[regiment] and Detroit Volunteers was immediately dis- 
patched to reconnoiter." Chesne confirms the number — 
twenty — given by Hamilton to Haldimand. 
• t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 265 

sailed by enemies — that was evident ; but who were 
the assailants? Presently, we shall see. 

It is pertinent now, before following farther the 
events of interest transpiring in the Illinois and upon 
the Wabash, that a brief mention be made of a few of 
the more important incidents which, about this period, 
occurred to the eastward, on the upper waters of the 
Ohio. 

From the Alleghany mountains to the Ohio, and, 
from a point some distance up the Alleghany river to 
the mouth of the Great Kanawha, is a region, which, 
from what has already been narrated, it is evident had 
been more or less exposed to savage aggressions ever 
since the time Indians west of the Ohio had, to any 
extent, become hostile. Not only Virginia and Penn- 
sylvania, but the General Government also, had ac- 
tively engaged in endeavors to protect the settlers, but 
with varying success. The sending of Brigadier Gen- 
eral Hand of the Continental army to take command 
of the Western Department with headquarters at Fort 
Pitt, at the commencement of the summer of 1777, 
gave much confidence to the oppressed people. 
Scarcely, however, had Clark departed upon his expe- 
dition "before the General was, at his own request, re- 
called, and Brigadier General Lachlan Mcintosh sent 
to take the command at Pittsburg, where he arrived 
early in August, 1778. 

In November, of the year last mentioned, Mc- 
intosh with a considerable force — the largest col- 
lected by the Americans west of the Alleghanies dur- 
ing the Revolution — moved westward, ostensibly 
against Detroit; but he marched no farther than the 
Tuscarawas river, principally because of a lack of sup- 



266 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

plies ; and thence, after commencing Fort Laurens and 
leaving a small number of men to continue the work, 
he returned, with the residue of his army to Fort Mc- 
intosh — a post he had erected on the right bank of 
the Ohio, some distance below Fort Pitt. In April, 
1779, Mcintosh retired from the command of the 
Western Department, being succeeded by Colonel 
Daniel Brodhead, who had direction of military af- 
fairs therein until the fall of 178 1. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

A RUMOR of Clark's success in the Illinois in 
the early part of July reached Williamsburg 
before the arrival of Montgomery with let- 
ters and dispatches from the Colonel. The rejoicing 
was great, but many discredited the report; "it was 
too good to be true." Finally, there was a confirma- 
tion of the news when the Captain reached the capital, 
having Rocheblave in charge and bringing full ac- 
counts from the Colonel himself."^ Nothing so cheer- 
ing had before been received from the Western coun- 
try since the war began. Those who had been fore- 
most in encouraging the expedition were especially 
jubilant. 

''By dispatches which I have just received from Col- 
onel Clark," wrote Governor Henry, "it appears that 
his success has equalled the most sanguine expectations. 
He has not only reduced Fort Chartres and its de- 
pendences [the Governor meaning the Illinois towns] 
but he has struck such terror into the Indian tribes, 
between that settlement and the lakes that no less than 
five of them . . . who had received the hatchet 
from the English emissaries, have submitted to our 
arms, given up all their English presents, and bound 
themselves by treating and promising to be peaceable 
in future." 

* "Major [George] Rogers Clark, the conqueror of the 
Illinois, has sent in the late Governor of the British settle- 
ment there, a Frenchman by birth, who is now in this city 
upon his parole." — From WilHamsburg, Virginia, November 
20, 1778, in Continental Journal (No. 138). 

(267) 



268 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



"In order to improve and secure the advantages 
gained by Colonel Clark/' added the Governor, "I 
propose to support him with a reinforcement of mili- 
tia. But this will depend upon the pleasure of the 
Assembly, to whose consideration the measure is sub- 
mitted. The French inhabitants have manifested great 
zeal and attachment to our cause, and insist on the 
garrison remaining with them under Colonel Clark. 
This I am induced to agree to because the safety of 
our frontiers as well as that of these people, demands 
a compliance with the request. "^^ 

The request by Governor Henry that the Virginia 
Assembly authorize him to support Clark in the Illi- 
nois by a reinforcement "to improve and secure the 
advantages" the Colonel had gained, followed as it 
was by their empowering him with the advice of the 
Council, forthwith to raise either by voluntary enlist- 
ment or detachments from the militia, five hundred 
men for that purpose, induced the Executive of the 
State at once to take steps to enlist for the service 
five companies of one hundred men each — as this 
plan was preferred to the calling out of militia. 

The cheerful news of Clark's success had its im- 
mediate effect upon the Virginia legislators. They 
would not let the opportunity slip, of expressing their 
gratification to the Colonel and his officers and men 
at the bravery displayed by them. Thus it was that, 
by an unanimous vote, the House of Delegates put 
upon record their thanks on the twenty-third of No- 
vember : 

* Governor Henry to the Virginia Delegates in Congress, 
Nov. H, 1778. The letter is printed in full in Tyler's Patrick 
Henry, pp. 230, 231; also in Butler's Kentucky (Id. ed.), p. 
532; and in Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. Ill, pp. 200, 201.' 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST ETC. 269 



''Whereas, authentic information has been received 
that Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark, with 
a body of Virginia militia, has reduced the British posts 
in the western part of this Commonwealth, on the 
river Mississippi and its branches, whereby great ad- 
vantage may accrue to the common cause of America, 
as well as to this Commonwealth in particular; 

"Resolved, That the thanks of this House are justly 
due to the said Colonel Clark and the brave officers 
and men under his command, for their extraordinary 
resolution and perseverance in so hazardous an enter- 
prize, and for the important services thereby rendered 
their country."* 

But there was another action taken by the legis- 
lators of Virginia. The inhabitants of the Illinois 
and upon the Wabash had shown a proper regard 
for this State, and had taken the necessary oath, thereby 
becoming citizens of the Commonwealth; and why, 
considering their isolated condition, should they not 
at once be accorded to a county government, in all re- 
spects consonant with Virginia laws, as had before 
been granted to Virginians, south of the Ohio? 

So the Virginia General Assembly passed an act 
that all the citizens of that commonwealth "who are 
already settled, or shall hereafter settle on the western 
side of the Ohio, shall be included in a distinct county, 
which shall be called Illinois county."t The forming 
of this county was followed by the appointment on 
the twelfth of December, of John Todd, Jr., a resident 

of Kentucky county, as county Heutenant ^ 

* Butler's Kentucky, ed. of 1834, p. 396; — ed. of 1836, 
p. 490. 

t Appendix, Note LXXIX. • 



270 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Clark was now promoted to a full colonelcy.* Cap- 
tain John Montgomery was made lieutenant colonel; 
and Captain Joseph Bowman was commissioned ma- 
jor: the first mentioned was given the title of "Com- 
mander-in-chief of the Virginia Troops in the County 
of Illinois." Montgomery was to recruit the five com- 
panies. 

Instructions were now drawn up for Todd, Mont- 
gomery and Clark. The first mentioned was directed 
by Governor Henry *'to give particular attention to 
Colonel Clark and his corps, to whom the State has 
great obligations. You are to cooperate with him on 
any military undertaking when necessary, and to give 
the military every aid which the circumstances of the 
people will admit of. The inhabitants of the Illinois 
must not expect settled peace and safety while their 
and our enemies have footing at Detroit and can inter- 
cept or stop the trade of the Mississippi. If the Eng- 
lish have not the strength or courage to come to war 
against us themselves, their practice has been and will 
be to hire the savages to commit murders and. depre- 
dations. Illinois must expect to pay in these a large 
price for her freedom unless the English can be ex- 
pelled from Detroit. The means for effecting this 
will not perhaps be found in your or Colonel Clark's 
power, but the French inhabiting the neighborhood 
of that place, it is presumed, may be brought^ to see 
it done with indifference or perhaps join in the enter- 

* Clark's commission I have not found. There can be no 
doubt of its having been issued as Montgomery was made 
lieutenant colonel under him, and Governor Henry addressed 
him, in his official instructions and letter (as will now be 
seen), by his new title; whereas, previously, he was officially 
designated as lieutenant cololiel. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 271 

prise with pleasure. This is but conjective. When 
you are on the spot, you and Colonel Clark may dis- 
cover its fallacy, or reality if the former appears. De- 
fense only is to be the object. If the latter, or a 
good prospect of it, I hope the Frenchmen and Indians 
at your disposal will show a zeal for the affair equal 
to the benefits to be derived from establishing liberty 
and permanent peace. 

"One great good expected from holding the Illi- 
nois is to overawe the Indians from warring on our 
settlers on this side of the Ohio. A close attention 
to the disposition, character, and movements of the 
hostile tribes is therefore necessary for you. The 
forces [of Clark] and militia at Illinois, by being placed 
on the back of them may inflict timely chastisement 
on these enemies, whose towns are an easy prey in 
absence of their warriors. 

"You perceive by these words that something in the 
military line may be expected from you. So far as 
the occasion calls for the assistance of the people com- 
posing the militia, it will be necessary to cooperate 
with the troops sent from here; and I know of no 
better general direction to give than this, that you 
consider yourself at the head of the civil department 
and as such having the command of the militia, who 
are not to be under the command of the military until 
ordered out by the civil authority, and to act in con- 
junction with them." 

Colonel Todd was also given additional instruc- 
tions, — such as seemed necessary, by the Executive, 
to fully organize the new county. 

Upon one subject of private concern, the Governor 
said; "Mr. Rocheblave's wife and familv must not 



272 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



suffer for want of that property of which they were 
bereft by our troops. It is to be restored to them if 
possible. If this cannot be done the pubHc must sup- 
port them."* 

The instructions issued to Colonel Montgomery by 
the Virginia Governor were in effect that he was 
''forthwith to put on foot the recruiting of men to re- 
inforce Colonel Clark at the Illinois and to push it 
on with all possible expedition." As soon as the num- 
ber of one hundred could be collected, they were to 
be sent on under proper officers. If the number should 
be thought too small to go in safety, more were to be 
added until Montgomery should judge the number 
large enough to resist any attacks that might be ex- 
pected from the Indians. ''You will," said Governor 
Henry, "cause the proper vessels for transporting the 
troops down the Chewkee [Tennessee] river to be 
built and ready before they are wanted. Let no time 
be lost in doing that. Mr: James Buchannan you must 
direct to lay in the provisions necessary. You will 
get powder and flints from Colonel Fleming's, and 
lead from the mines, sufficient for the use of the parties 
on their march." 

Blank commissions for the officers of five com- 
panies were delivered to Montgomery, to be- filled up 
as the numbers of men they should recruit would 
entitle them as to date and rank. If any officer who 
should be entrusted to recruit should fail to enlist and 
produce his quota in a reasonable time, such as the 
exigence and pressing necessity to relieve and secure 
the Illinois count ry required, — in that case the offi- 

*The instructions given to Todd by Governor Henry, are 
printed in full from the original, in Mason's Early Chicago ■ 
and Illinois, pp. 289-294. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 273 

cer so failing was to give up the men he had enlisted 
together with his recruiting instructions to the Colonel 
or such other person as Montgomery might appoint 
to succeed him ; and if the person to succeed the first 
one should also fail, another was to be named, and 
so on until every quota was filled, or so nearly filled 
as to be fit to march. ''You are," said Governor Henry 
to the Colonel, "to take especial care to appoint men 
proper to be officers; and as this matter, from nec- 
essity of the case, is entrusted to you, an improper 
appointment will reflect great dishonor upon you." 

As soon as Colonel Montgomery succeeded 
sufficiently in the recruiting business to justify it, he 
was instructed that he was to go to the Illinois and 
join Colonel Clark. The Virginia Governor urged 
the utmost dispatch. "Our party," said he, "at Illi- 
nois may be lost, together with the present favorable 
disposition of the French and Indians there, unless 
every moment is improved for their preservation ; and 
no future opportunity, if the present is lost, can 
ever be expected so favorable to the interest of the 
Commonwealth. I therefore urge it on you to exert 
yourself to the utmost to lose not a m.oment to forward 
the great work you have in hand and to conquer every 
difficulty in your way arising from an inclement sea- 
son, great distances, wants of many necessaries, oppo- 
sition from enemies, and others I cannot enumerate 
but must confide in your virtue to guard against and 
surmount." 

Captain Isaac Shelby was desired by Governor 
Henry to prepare the boats; but if he could not do it, 
other persons were to be engaged. Montgomery was 
to receive ten thousand pounds cash for Colonel Clark's 

18 



274 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

corps ; which were to be delivered to him, except two 
hundred pounds for Captain Shelby with which to 
build the boats and for what other incidental expenses 
might happen necessarily on the way out/'^' 

On the same day of the issuing of the instructions 
to Colonel Montgomery, others were signed to be sent 
to Colonel Clark : 

*'You are to retain," said the Governor, *^the com- 
mand of the troops now at the several posts in the 
county of Illinois and [which poses, with those] on 
the Wabash . . . fall within the limits of the 
county now erected and called 'Illinois County,' — 
which troops marched out with and have been em- 
bodied by you. You are also to take the command of 
five other companies raised under the act of Assembly 
which I send herewith, and which if completed, as I 
hope they will be speedily, will have orders to join 
you without loss of time, and are likewise to be under 
your command. With your whole force, you are to 
protect the inhabitants of the county [of Illinois], and, 
as occasion may serve, annoy the enemy." 

It was thought by the Virginia Executive that by 
the adoption of proper measures on part of Clark, the 
Indian nations might be overawed and inclined to 
peace with the Americans; or, if that could not be 
effected, that such of them as send out parties towards 
the Virginia frontiers on the east and south of the 
Ohio, might be chastised by detachments sent . from 
the Illinois. For this purpose, he thought it would 
behoove the Colonel to watch their motions, and to 
consider that one great advantage expected from the 

* Gov. Henry to Lieut. Col. John Montgomery, Dec. 12, 
1778. — Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. Ill, pp. 216-218. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 275 

American commander- at Kaskaskia was to prevent the 
Indians from attacking the exposed settlements of the 
Virginias. In order the more effectually to prevent 
this, Clark was authorized to establish such forts in 
different parts of the country as he might judge best 
for his troops to occupy. 

'1 consider your further success," continued Henry, 
in further instructing Clark, "as depending upon the 
good will and friendship of the Frenchmen and Indians 
who inhabit your part of the Commonwealth [of Vir- 
ginia]. With their concurrence, great things may 
be accomplished. But their animosity will spoil the 
fair prospects which your past success have opened. 
You will therefore spare no pains to conciliate the 
affections of the French and Indians. Let them see 
and feel the advantages of being fellow citizens and 
freemen. Guard most carefully against every in- 
fringement of their property, particularly with re- 
spect to land, as our enemies have alarmed them as to 
that. Strict and even severe discipline with your 
soldiers may be essential to preserve from injury those 
whom they were sent to protect and conciliate. This 
is a great and capital matter, and I confide [in you] 
that you will never lose sight of it, or suffer your 
troops to injure any person without feeling the pun- 
ishment due to the offence. The honor and interest 
of the State are deeply concerned in this, and the at- 
tachment of the French and Indians depends upon a 
due observance of it." 

Governor Henry would send Clark copies of the 
act of Government and Bill of Rights, together with 
the French Alliance. These would serve to show as 
the Virmnia Executive thought, the new friends in 



276 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

the Illinois the ground upon which they were to stand, 
and the support to be expected from France. Equal 
liberty and happiness were the objects, to a partici- 
pation of which, the Americans invited them. ''Upon 
a fair presumption," said the Governor, "that the peo- 
ple about Detroit have similar inclinations with those 
at the Illinois and [upon the] Wabash, I think it pos- 
sible that they may be brought to expel their British 
masters and become fellow citizens of a free state, 
I recommend this to your serious consideration, and 
to consult with some confidential persons on the sub- 
ject. Perhaps Mr. Gibault, the priest (to whom this 
country owes many thanks for his zeal and services), 
may promote this affair. But I refer it to you to select 
the proper persons to advise with, and to act as occa- 
sion offers. But you are to push at any favorable oc- 
currences which fortune may present to you ; for our 
peace and safety are not secure while the enemy are 
so near as Detroit." 

It was the desire of Governor Henry that Clark 
should testify to all the subjects of Spain upon every 
occasion, the high regard and sincere friendship of 
Virginia towards them. He hoped it would soon be 
manifest that mutual advantages would be derived from 
the neighborhood of the Virginias and the subjects of 
his Catholic Majesty. 

Henry did not fail to impress upon Clark the fact 
his situation was critical : "Far detached from the 
body of your country, placed among French, Span- 
iards, and Indian nations, strangers to our people, 
anxiously watching your actions and behavior, and 
ready to receive impressions favorable or not so, 
of our Commonwealth and its government, which im- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 277 

pressions will be hard to remove and will produce 
lasting good or ill effects to your country. These 
considerations will make you cautious and circumspect. 
I feel the delicacy and difficulty of your situation, but 
I doubt not your virtue will accomplish the arduous 
work with honor to yourself and advantage to the 
Commonwealth. The advice and assistance of discreet 
good men will be highly necessary; for, at the dis- 
tance of your county, I cannot be consulted. General 
discretionary powers, therefore, are given you to act 
for the best in all cases where these instructions are 
silent and the law has made no provision." 

The Virginia Executive called the particular atten- 
tion of the Colonel to Mrs. Rocheblave and her chil- 
dren, that he should not suffer them to want for any- 
thing. He desired that Mr. Rocheblave's property, 
which was taken, be restored to his lady, so far as 
it could be done. "You have," he said, "the sum of 
sixty pounds sent for her use, in case you cannot find 
her husband's effects to restore ;" none, however, could 
afterward be found ; and the help she received from the 
State seems to have proved of little consequence to^ her, 
for in less than a year and a half thereafter, she wrote 
that she had not "even" the necessities of life."* 

Prudence, the Governor declared, required that 
provisions should be laid in to subsist the troops under 
Clark's command and those expected to arrive to re- 
inforce him. Colonel John Bowman, County Lieuten- 
ant of Kentucky County, had contracted to deliver 
thirty-five thousand pounds bear bacon at his county ; 

* Letter of "Marie Michel de Rocheblave," written at 
Kaskaskia March 27, 1780 : from the Haldimand MSS. 



278 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

but bread must be obtained in Illinois. Clark was to 
provide it, if possible, before the arrival of the troops 
or the necessity to purchase it became generally known, 
as perhaps advantages might be taken to raise the 
price. The Colonel was enjoined also to lay up a 
good stock of powder and lead. 

The American commander was informed by the 
Governor that there was a cargo of goods at a Spanish 
post near him belonging either to the United States or 
Virginia. Rather than let his troops be naked, he could 
take a supply for them out of this cargo ; but this was 
not to be done but in case of absolute necessity. An 
exact account must be kept of what might be used, 
which account should be sent to Governor Henry. 
Clark was likewise told that in his negotiations or 
treating with the Indians he would be assisted by 
Todd. He was enjoined to let the treaties be confined 
to the subject of amity and peace with Americans; 
he should not touch the subject of lands. He might 
accept of any services the savages might ofler for 
expelling the English from Detroit or elsewhere. In 
the event presents were found necessary to give the 
Indians, he should make them as sparingly as possible, 
letting them know the Virginia stock of goods was 
then small, but by means of the trade with the French 
and other nations, it was expected there would be 
plenty of goods before long. 

"Lieutenant Colonel Montgomery" were the con- 
cluding words of Governor Henry's instructions, "will 
convey to you ten thousand pounds for payment of 
the troops, and for other matters requiring money. 
In the distribution of the money, you will be careful 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 279 

to keep exact accounts from time to time, and take 
security where it is proper."* 

By a letter written by the Governor of Virginia 
on the first day of the year 1779, Colonel Clark was 
informed that the Virginia Assembly had directed his 
battalion to be completed, one hundred men to be 
stationed at the Falls of the Ohio, under Major Slaugh- 
ter ; and that one only of the additional battalions was 
to be filled. "Major Slaughter's men," said Henry, 
"are raised and will march in a few days." The 
returns which had been made to the Governor were not 
sufficient for him to state confidently whether men 
enough had been raised to make up the additional 
battahon, but he supposed there were nearly enough. 
This battalion would march early in the spring as the 
weather would admit. 

The Governor said to Clark that he knew of but 
two principal objects to engage his attention for his 
next summer's operations : ( i ) an expedition against 
Detroit; or, (2) against those tribes of Indians be- 
tween the Ohio and Illinois rivers, who had harrassed 
the Virginians constantly and whom experience had 
shown to be incapable of reconciliation. 

"Removed at such a distance as we are," are the 
concluding words of Henry, "and so imperfectly in- 
formed, it is impossible for us to prescribe to you. 
The defences at Detroit seem too great for small arms 
alone; and if that nest was destroyed, the EngHsh 
still have a tolerable channel of communication with 
the Northern Indians, by going from Montreal up 
the Ottawa river ; on the other hand, the Shawanese, 

*Gov. Henry to Col. G. R. Clark (Instructions), Dec. 
12, 1778 — Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. Ill, pp. 209-212. 



280 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Mingoes, Munsies^ and the nearer Wyandots are trou- 
blesome thorns in our sides. However, we must leave 
it to yourself to decide on the object of the campaign; 
if against the Indians, the end proposed should be their 
extermination, or their removal beyond the lakes or 
Illinois river. The same world will scarcely do for 
them and us. I suppose it will be best for the new 
battalion to act with you all the summer, aided by 
a considerable part of Slaughter's men ; and, in the 
fall, to fortify the ports we propose to take [to es- 
tablish?] on the Ohio, and remain in them during the 
succeeding winter. The posts which have been thought 
of are, the mouth of Fishing or Little Kenawha, Great 
Kenawha, Scioto, Great Salt Lick, and Kentucky 
[river]. There being posts already at Pittsburgh, 
the mouth of Wheeling and the Falls of Ohio, these 
intermediate ones will form a chain from Pittsburgh 
to the Falls. I have then only to wish that your post 
[at Kaskaskia] was at the mouth of Ohio, which would 
complete the line.""^ 

At the close of summer, Colonel Clark's conduct 
of public affairs had been so judicious that, so far as 
appearances were concerned, American rule seemed 
to be pretty firmly established not only in the Illinois 

*^Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. Ill, pp. 218, 219. That the 
Governor should have overlooked the fact of there being a 
post already established at the mouth of the Great Kanawha 
is strange indeed. To establish a post at the mouth of the 
Ohio, had been, for a considerable time, earnestly considered 
by Henry; and he had gone so far as to make certain proposi- 
tions to the Spaniards suggesting if they would bring goods 
there in their own vessels one would be located at that point. 
( See Henry to Richard Henry Lee, Nov. 10, 1777. — Henry's 
Patrick Henry, vol. Ill, p. 115.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 281 

but upon the Wabash. He had let sHp no opportunity 
in cultivating, in every quarter where there was the 
least appearance of future advantage, the growing 
interest of his country. His success had been as great 
as he had any good reason to expect. There was 
tranquility in the village of the white people, and 
among the savage tribes for many miles northward 
and eastward. It was this calm that gave him leisure 
to reflect seriously upon the conquest he had made — 
as perfect, it would seem, as it had been bloodless; 
but it was the calm before the storm. Patrick Henry's 
words to the Colonel — 'T must observe to you that 
your situation is critical" — were almost prophetic. 

The Colonel, after due consideration, became ap- 
prehensive that the British at Detroit, finding it hard 
to regain their lost interest among the savages, would 
make a descent on the Illinois. And the more readily 
would they undertake this should they learn with 
what a small force possession of the country was re- 
tained. Every precaution, then, was taken to keep 
the inhabitants in ignorance of the commander's real 
strength. Naturally, under such circumstances, there 
would be an exaggeration; and, as a matter of fact, 
the army was estimated, generally, at double its actual 
number. As it was of the utmost importance early to 
get particulars, should an undertaking be resolved upon 
by the enemy, spies were sent forward to watch any 
movement of an aggresive nature. They soon reported 
that Lieutenant Governor Hamilton was exerting him- 
self to engage the savages to assist him in retaking 
the places which had fallen into the hands of Clark; 
and the latter wrote the Governor of Virginia con- 
cerning it: "General Hamilton of Detroit," said the 



282 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 

Colonel, "has of late been at great pains and expense 
to get a body of Indians to retake the Illinois; but 
above half the Indians that he had at his command has 
treated with me, and I believe the rest very willing 
to be quiet, except those towards Fort Pitt. In short, 
his officers among them have had success, as I often 
hear from tliem, having spies in the same towns. I 
think I shall keep his Excellency out of it [the Illinois] 
this year; as for the next, you are the best judge."* 

Clark, it will be seen, felt too much at his ease. 
He was sure the favorable impression made on the 
Indians of the country of the lakes by the councils 
which had been held in the Illinois, and his sending 
messages of good will to many of those he had not 
seen, added to the influence of the French over all the 
nations, would make it difficult for the Lieutenant 
Governor to induce many to march under his com- 
mand ; besides expectations of reinforcements undoubt- 
edly flattered the Colonel that, in any event, no great 
danger need be apprehended. f 

Additional news was now brought to Clark. 
Hamilton was, in truth, on the march with a consider- 

* Clark to Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, Sept. 16, 
1778. This letter is published in full in Henry's Patrick 
Henry, vol. Ill, p. 194. 

t Patrick Henry to Congressional Delegates of Virginia, 
Nov. 14, 1778. The following are the words of Governor 
Henry in relating what Clark had written him: 

"The governor of that place [Detroit], M. Hamilton, was 
exerting himself to engage the savages to assist him in retak- 
ing the places that had fallen into our hands; but the favor- 
able impression made on the Indians in general in that quarter, 
the influence of the French on them, and the reinforcement of 
militia Colonel Clark expected, flattered him that there was 
little danger to be apprehended." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 283 

able party, taking his route up the Maumee river. 
Surely, therefore, the Illinois must be his aim. But, 
in a few days the Colonel received certain intelligence 
that General Mcintosh, who, as we have seen, was 
the successor of Brigadier General Hand in command 
of the Western Department, had left Fort Pitt for 
Detroit with a strong force. 

This news was sent the Colonel by way of the 
Ohio river and the Mississippi ; and it reached him in 
terms implying that it was his (Mcintosh's) inten- 
tion not to stop short of Detroit. The whole matter 
was, therefore, as the American commander thought, 
easily to be understood — Hamilton was marching 
against Mcintosh. 

It was the decided opinion entertained by Clark that 
Detroit could easily be taken: "knowing the weakness 
of the fortification of that post at that time, their 
numbers, etc., I made no doubt of it being shortly in 
our possession and that Governor Hamilton, sensible 
that there was no probability of his being able suc- 
cessfully to defend the fort, had marched with his 
whole force to encourage the Indians to harrass the 
General [Mcintosh] on his way as the only probable 
plan to stop- him ; little thinking that he had returned, 
and that Mr. Hamilton had the same design on me that 
I supposed he had on General Mcintosh." 

"Jt being near Christmas," are the further words 
of Clark, "we feasted ourselves with the hopes of 
immediately hearing from Detroit, and began to think 
that we had been neglected in an express not being 
sent with the important news of its being ours.""^ 

* Clark to Mason. — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 51. 



284 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

But the American commander finally got some 
light. A young man at Cahokia was detected in hold- 
ing a correspondence with "Governor Hamilton's 
party" and in sending intelligence to the enemy, and 
was ''punished accordingly."* In the investigation, it 
was learned that General Mcintosh had returned from 
the Tuscarawas and that Hamilton was marching 
really against the Illinois, although as to the latter, 
there was not sufficient evidence "to reduce it to a 
certainty;" but, if true, it was clear to the mind of 
Clark that the Lieutenant Governor would make his 
first strike at Kaskaskia — the Colonel's headquarters 
and where the strongest garrison was. 

Spies were kept on all the roads but to no purpose :t 
some were captured ; others returned with no news. 
Cold weather setting in, Clark was at a loss what 
to do. It was the opinion of many of his men that 
Hamilton had quit his design, going no farther than 
the head of the Maumee. As the Colonel could get 
no intelligence whatever from Vincennes, he gave him- 
self the benefit of all doubts as to the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor being there, — imagining that, perhaps, Captain 
Helm had not been able to send him an express on 
account of high waters. In this situation of uncer- 
tainty, he remained for a considerable time. 

It was the intention of the American commander 
in the event of the appearance of the enemy to withdraw 
the garrison from Cahokia. But, as he was anxious 
to have a conference with the principal inhabitants of 
that place, whom he knew to be zealous in his coun- 

* Id. p. 52. What punishment was meted out to the young 
man, Clark does not say. He was probably hung, 
t Clark to Mason just cited. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 285 

try's cause, to fix on certain plans for the conduct 
of the people there in the event of possession being 
taken by the English, he set out for that village with 
the intention however of staying but a few days. 

With a guard of not more than seven men, accom- 
panied by "a few gentlemen in chairs" — that is, in 
wooden carts, one of which "swamped" on the way — 
Clark — after nearly an hour's detention — proceeded 
on his journey, reaching Prairie du Rocher, "about 
twelve miles above Kaskaskia," with safety, where, in 
the evening, the party were entertained by the good 
people of the place with a dance, gotten up in honor 
of their arrival. "We spent," says the Colonel, "the 
fore part of the night very agreeably, but about 12 
o'clock there was a very sudden change."* 

The cause for the interruption was this: An ex- 
press arrived from Kaskaskia, with the information 
that Hamilton from Detroit was within three miles 
of the place first mentioned with eight hundred men 
and was determined to attack the fort there that night 
— indeed, before the news could possibly reach the 
American commander. There was at once among 
that small assembly the greatest confusion — "every 
person," says the Colonel, "having their eyes on me, 
as if my word was to determine their good or evil 
fate."t It required but a moment for the commander 

* Clark to Mason. — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
pp. 53, 54. 

Roosevelt {The Winning of the West, vol. II, pp. 67, 68) 
speaks of the dance in such a manner as to convey the idea 
that the people "of the little village of La Prairie du Rocher" 
had gotten it up for their own entertainment ; but this is error. 

t Clark to Mason. — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
54. It is doubtful whether the report actually put the number 



286 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

to form his resolution to attempt at once to regain 
the fort if possible before it should be attacked by the 
enemy; or, failing in that, to endeavor to get through 
the lines of the besiegers by stratagem. He communi- 
cated his resolution to two of his officers who had 
accompanied him ; it met their approval ; and their 
horses were ordered saddled. 

"Those of the company," says Clark "that had re- 
covered from their surprise so far as to enable them 
to speak, begged of me not to attempt to return; that 
the town was certainly in possession of the enemy and 
the fort warmly attacked. Some proposed conveying 
me to the Spanish shore ; — some one thing and some 
another."''' But the Colonel refused to listen to their 
various propositions for his safety; insisting at the 
same time that the dance should be continued until 
the horses were ready; and, to inspire them with as 
much courage as possible he tried to appear as uncon- 
cerned as if nothing had happened. After dropping a 
line to Captain Bowman at Cahokia, ordering him to 
return with his force at once to Kaskaskia,t Clark 

at eight hundred as Clark declares. It. is not improbable, 
when he wrote his letter to Mason, having that number in his 
mind as the force under Hamilton when the latter entered 
Vincennes, he gave it as the number reported. 

* Clark to Mason — in the work last cited, p. 55. 

t In his letter to Mason of Nov. 19, 1779, Clark does not 
mention what word he sent to Bowman ; but in a letter to the 
Governor of Virginia written on the 29th of April previous, 
he explains that it was an order to evacuate the fort at Ca- 
hokia. (See Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222 n, where the 
entire letter is printed. The original is the property of the 
United States and is in the archives of the Department of 
State.) This letter is frequently cited hereafter; for, al- 
though not written for some months after the events took 



. HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 287 

set out on his return to his headquarters, making the 
journey, it may be presumed, in much less time than 
on his way out. On his arrival, he found, instead of 
an enemy in possession of the fort or besieging it, 
everything to all appearances as calm as when he left. 

Clark and his men before starting on their return 
from Prairie du Rocher had provided themselves with 
blankets, in which, in case the fort, on their arrival, 
was surrounded by the enemy, each one was to wrap 
himself, fall in with the besiegers until an opportunity 
offered of getting near enough to the fortification to 
give the proper signals, when he would be promptly 
admitted inside.* 

It was the general impression in the fort that, as 
the weather was inclement, the attack would not take 
place until it cleared up, none doubting the presence 
of the enemy in the immediate vicinity. But Clark, 
from several circumstances, was led to believe that 
the reason for the postponement of hostilities was due 
to their desire to give the garrison time to escape ; how- 
ever, he determined if that was their wish, they should 
be disappointed; so he lost no time in putting every- 
thing in as good order as possible. 

Now, the good Father Gibault was inside the fort 
at the time and it would seem was "in the greatest 
consternation," but he was determined to act agree- 
able to the commander's instructions. He was, of all 
those in Kaskaskia, "the most afraid of Mr. Hamilton," 

place, it refers back to them, for certain reasons hereafter 
explained. Its statements are generally to be relied upon. 

* This, certainly, was a novel and, doubtless, an original 
plan for cutting through a besieging force. Had there been 
an occasion for testing its efficacy, failure probably would have 
been the result. 



288 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and for good reason. The interest manifested by him 
in temporal affairs both at Kaskaskia and Vincennes, 
he well knew *'Mr. Hamilton" would soon be informed 
of, if he had not already obtained information con- 
cerning it ; and he had good reason to fear the worst 
should he fall into the Lieutenant Governor's power.* 

Hamilton seems to have treasured up an implac- 
able hatred of the priest. More than two years after 
learning how much the American commander had 
been indebted to him for the change of affairs at Vin- 
cennes, he gave vent in unmeasured terms to his ill- 
feeling against him: "He [Gibault] had been," he 
said, "an active agent for the rebels, and whose vicious 
and immoral conduct was sufficient to do infinite mis- 
chief in a country where ignorance and bigotry give 
full scope to the depravity of a licentious ecclesiastic. 
This wretch it was who absolved the French inhabi- 
tants from their allegiance to the King of Great Bri- 
tain. To enumerate the vices of the inhabitants would 
be to give a long catalogue; but to assert that they 
are not in possession of a single virtue is no more 
than truth and justice require; still, the most eminently 
vicious and scandalous was the Rev. Mons'r Gibault."t 

In conferring with Clark, the worthy priest felt 
sure the fort would be taken unless reinforced by the 
garrison from Cahokia, not knowing that Clark had 
previously written Captain Bowman to join him at 
once from that place. The Colonel thought best to 
relieve the priest of his anxiety by pretending he 
wanted him to go to the Spanish side of the Mississippi 

* Clark to Mason. — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 
55, 56. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 289 

with public papers and money. ''The proposition," 
says Clark, ''pleased him well; he immediately started 
and getting into an island, he was obliged to encamp 
there three days, in the most obscure part with only a 
servant to attend him, the ice passing so thick down 
the Mississippi." 

During the hours which passed after the return 
of the commander, but before the morning of the next 
day, he had sufficient time to carefully reflect upon 
what he deemed the serious condition of affairs. The 
inhabitants had always appeared to be attached to the 
Americans; at the same time he fully realized that 
he would soon have an unmistakable demonstration 
from them as to their feeling toward him, which at first 
seemed to be one of friendship ; as several of the young 
men of the place, soon after the alarm had been given, 
turned into the fort to help defend it. But he was 
sensible, at the same time, that, in the event they took 
up arms to defend the town, the whole would probably 
be lost, as he would be obliged to give the enemy bat- 
tle in the commons ; he thought, therefore, it would 
be best, could it be brought about, that such as had 
no families should reinforce the garrison, while those 
with families should remain neutral. 

The Colonel concluded to burn all the houses near 
the fort, and when the attack was made, "tO' sell it as 
dearly as possible," as there was no probabiHty of 
escaping the enemy who, he had no doubt, were about 
ready to commence the siege, although not a single 
white man or Indian had, as yet, made his appearance 
in a threatening manner near the village. The only 
probable chance of safety for the garrison depended, 

19 



290 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

as it seemed to Clark, on the prompt arrival of Captain 
Bowman from Cahokia, with his company, for no re- 
inforcements were expected from the eastward, and, 
with this force added to those of his garrison he might 
possibly defend himself until *'Mr. Hamilton's Indians" 
and white men got tired and returned; which, he 
judged, would be in four or five weeks, for the great- 
est part of them, should they not meet with the success 
they had expected. 

In the morning, the first thing the American com- 
mander did was, to assemble all the inhabitants in the 
fort in order to know what their resolution was; for 
he had learned of their counselling together during 
the night as to what course ought, under the circum- 
stances, to be pursued by them. He then promptly 
asked them whether they would endeavor to defend 
their village or not. If they would act on the defen- 
sive, he would, he told them, quit the fort, leaving 
inside only a small guard, and "head" them with his 
troops. He told them also that if the enemy lay con- 
cealed until the weather broke, he might probably dis- 
cover their camps and get some advantage of them. 
But the citizens declined to act on one side or the other, 
which was really not displeasing to Clark ; at the same 
time they protested they were really in the American 
interest. Now, all would have been well had they said 
no more ; yet they not only suggested that the Colonel's 
whole force joined with them would make a poor show- 
ing against so considerable a party as the one which 
(as supposed) was about to attack them, but they 
hinted that it was their -y^ish that the Americans should 
abandon the place and take protection of the Spanish 
pn the other side of the Mississippi ; for they could not 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 291 

conceive that Clark could keep possession of the fort 
a single day, as the enemy would immediately set 
the adjoining houses on fire, which would fire the 
fortification (they not knowing that the commander 
had already resolved to burn them as soon as the 
wind shifted).* 

The suggestion made by the Kaskaskians that Clark 
should avail himself of Spanish protection, and the 
fact that they had already discussed the matter of the 
enemy firing the adjacent houses to get possession 
of the fort, "with some other circumstances," put the 
Colonel "in a most violent rage." As soon as he could 
curb his passion he gave them a lecture such as would 
suit "a set of traitors," although he did not conceive 
them all to be such. He then ordered out the Kas- 
kaskians that were in the fort, at the same time telling 
them he no longer thought them deserving any favor 
from him; that he, consequently, must conceive them 
to be his secret enemies and should treat them as such. 
But he had no idea of carrying out his threat; it was 
made only that the inhabitants might be convinced 
of his firm determination never to yield to the foe 
so long as there v/as the least chance left for him and 
his men. 

The inhabitants who had assembled in the fort now 
asked Clark to issue an order for all the provision in 
the town to be brought him immediately as an earnest 
of their good intentions toward him and which in real- 
ity convinced him that as they saw he was determined 

* This, it will be seen, is additional evidence that Fort 
Gage was in Kaskaskia; although, already enough has been 
adduced, it is confidently believed, to convince the most 
skeptical. 



292 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

to stand his ground it was their desire he should be 
able to withstand the siege as long as possible ; besides, 
if such an order were issued, it vv^ould be an excuse 
for them to their new master, (whom they expected 
every moment), for furnishing the supplies to the 
Americans. The Colonel told them he would have 
all their provisions, and that he would then burn their 
town "to the enemy's hand." He added that they 
might send in what they had if they chose to do so. 
He then again ordered them all out of the fort ; and no 
sooner had they departed than he had set fire to some 
out houses, a proceeding which convinced them of his 
firm determination to fight to the last. "Never," says 
Clark, "was a set of people in more distress ; their town 
set on fire by those they wished to be in friendship 
with, at the same time surrounded by the savages, 
as they believed, from whom they had little else but 
destruction to expect." 

Owing to the circumstance that there was con- 
siderable snow on the roofs of the houses, the fire 
kindled by Clark's orders did not spread to any extent. 
Meanwhile, the inhabitants looked on without daring 
to say a word. The Colonel told them he intended to 
set fire to all the houses that contained much provision, 
for fear, unless destroyed, the enemy would get it; 
however, they did not wait to see the commander put 
his threat into execution, but at once commenced bring- 
ing their hoarded supplies to the fort; and, before 
night, six months' provisions had been deposited there. 

"Not having received a scrape of a pen from you 
for nearly twelve months," wrote the Colonel after- 
ward to the Governor, "I could see but little probability 
of keeping possession of the country, as my number of 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 293 

men was too small to stand a siege, and my situation 
too remote to call for assistance. I made all the pre- 
parations I possibly could for the attack, and was ne- 
cessitated to set fire to some of the houses in town, to 
clear them out of the way.""^ 

During the first day after Clark's return, an inci- 
dent occurred which came very near having a tragical 
ending. A citizen riding out of town got information 
that a party of the enemy were going to the island to 
capture the priest, who was detained there by the 
floating ice. The man, while desiring to befriend 
Father Gibault, was at the same time disposed to keep 
the presence of the enemy a secret from Clark; so, on 
his return to the village and meeting the priest's 
brother-in-law, he related the news to the latter, beg- 
ging him not to tell the American commander; but 
he made all haste to inform the Colonel. Thereupon, 
the citizen who told the story to the relative of Gibault 
was arrested and ordered to be immediately 'hanged. 
Nothing, apparently, would have saved him had not 
his wife and seven small children been brought before 
Clark. "This," says the latter, "was a sight too mov- 
ing not to have granted them the life of their parent," 
but "on terms that put it out "of his power to do any 
damage to me."f 

The following day Captain Bowman with his own 
company and one of volunteers reached Kaskaskia 

* Clark to Governor of Virginia, April 29th, 1779. — Jef- 
ferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222 n. 

t Clark to Mason. — Clark's Campaign m the Illinois, pp. 
60, 61. It would be a matter of no little interest could it be 
ascertained what the "terms" were; but they will doubtless 
never be known. 



294 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

from Cahokia.* The weather had cleared away and 
the reinforcement gave Clark strong hopes of being 
able to defy the enemy ; he having still the firm belief 
that a large force was in the vicinity ready to begin an 
attack upon him. Spies were sent out in every direc- 
tion to make discoveries; the commander hoping to get 
such an advantage as would enable him, notwithstand- 
ing the odds were as he supposed against him, to 
attack them in the environs of the town. By this 
time, the inhabitants seemed to change their minds 
and to manifest a desire to aid in defense of the place. 
And the Colonel was not slow to show them he appre- 
ciated their readiness to assist him. Soon the spies 
returned and, to the great relief of all, reported that, 
instead of an army of huge dimensions there were only 
about forty whites and Indians in the vicinity, and 
that they were making their retreat as fast as possible 
to Vincennes. 

=^ Bancroft [History of the United States (ed. of 1885), 
vol. V, p. 313] confounds Captain Joseph Bowman, then in 
command of a company under Clark with Colonel John Bow- 
man, of Kentucky. He says: "By his [Clark's] orders, Bow- 
man of Kentucky joined him, after evacuating the fort at 
Kahokia, and preparations were made for the defense of 
Kaskaskia." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE particulars of the movement of the enemy's 
small force of Indians from the mouth of the 
Wabash to the vicinity of Kaskaskia shov^ not 
a little daring on part of the one in command. Ham- 
ilton had not contemplated sending any of his men, 
either Indians or whites, as a war party into the very 
heart of the Illinois settlements, either for informa- 
tion or to capture stragglers belonging to the army 
of Clark. He was content with the knowledge he 
had already of affairs there, willing to abide the time 
when the season would admit of his marching on- 
ward to the Mississippi, But a plan of an Ottawa 
Indian chief who had, along with other savages and 
a party of whites, been sent down the Wabash by 
the Lieutenant Governor to go to the Tennessee river 
to confer with the Cherokees, as mentioned in a 
previous chapter, was laid, as before stated, at the 
mouth of the first mentioned stream, to go on an 
expedition to the Illinois to take some prisoners.* 
There went with the party, as already noticed, two 
French Canadians. The whole marched by land, their 
objective point being the immediate vicinity of Kas- 
kaskia. After a very fatiguing march they reached 

* Ante, Chap. XV. Hamilton, in his letter to Haldimand 
of Jan. 24-28, 1779, simply says that "the chief ... (an 
Ottawa) determined to go on a decouverte to Kaskaskia." 
But in his letter to the same, of July 6, 1781, he explains, 
as has been shown, that the chief, having remained sometime 
at the mouth of the Wabash with his party without taking 
any prisoners, "declared he would not return without attempt- 
ing to be of further service;" so he started for the Illinois 
towns. (295) 



296 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

the Kaskaskia river and crossed over at a point ap- 
parently above the town, where they secreted them- 
selves. 

A few of the savages lay concealed near a small 
branch about three miles from Kaskaskia, and only a 
hundred yards from the place where the ''chair" be- 
longing to one of Clark's companions was mired when 
the Colonel, with some others, was on his way to 
Cahokia as before described, and where the whole had 
been detained about an hour. ''I believe nothing here 
saved me," says the Colonel, ''but the instructions they 
had not to kill me, or the fear of being overpowered, 
not having an opportunity to alarm the main body 
without being discovered themselves." The 
residue of the party was at this time, about half a mile 
away — so Clark afterward learned; and he subse- 
quently became fully persuaded that the enemy's 
coming was only that he alone should be captured: 
"Mr. Hamilton . . . had sent a party of forty 
savages, headed by white men from Vincennes in 
order if possible to take me prisoner; and he gave 
such instructions for my treatment as did him no 
dishonor." And again he speaks of the force of the 
enemy as having been "sent for no other purpose, 
as we found after, than to take me."* In all this, 
the Colonel was mistaken. It is clear that the Lieu- 
tenant Governor did not send the Ottawa chief and 
his Indians to the IlHnois at all; and it is certain 
that the object of their going was not directed against 
Clark alone, but to take "rebel" prisoners generally. 
On their way the Indian war-party came upon some 
"French hunters of the Illinois," first taking away 

* Clark to Mason. — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 
53, 61. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 297 

their horses but afterward returning them. They were 
not otherwise molested.* French residents of the Illi- 
nois were not the kind of prisoners wanted by the 
savages in this expedition. 

It was now clear to the mind of Clark that the 
British were in possession of Vincennes and that, con- 
sequently, an attack by the enemy in force would 
not be long delayed, though there could be no present 
danger. The outlook, on the whole, was discourag- 
ing to the American commander, notwithstanding he 
had reason to expect a reinforcement to be sent him 
by the Virginia government. It seemed to the Colonel, 
after a careful survey of the situation, that all of 
the Illinois, except the fortification in Kaskaskia 
guarded by his men, would, in a few months, be 
again in possession of the English ; — his garrison, 
he believed, would not surrender unless driven to it 
by the greatest distress. He sent horsemen in the 
direction of Vincennes to take a prisoner if possible, 

* Hamilton says, that Charles Beaubien, one of the party, 
took their horses and would have kept them but for the Ottawa 
chief who reproached him for acting contrary to his (Hamil- 
ton's) orders, Beaubien also assured the hunters that the 
British and their Indian allies intended to recapture their 
towns and put all the inhabitants to death (Hamilton to 
Haldimand, July 6, 1781 — Germain MSS.) This "treachery" 
of Beaubien, Hamilton declares, was the reason why Clark 
escaped ; and this may have been true, as the hunters, now 
thoroughly frightened, made all haste to the settlement giving 
the alarm first to some negroes, who quickly notified the Kas- 
kaskians of the approach of the war party, at the same time 
greatly exaggerating the number of the approaching enemy. 
It is probable that "Hamilton's orders" as given to Beaubien 
were to treat the French and Creole residents of the Illinois 
as friends; hence the Lieutenant Governor speaks of the 
words of Beaubien as being treacherous. 



298 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

from whom he hoped to gain intelHgence; but their 
progress was impeded by high water and they returned 
empty-handed. 

Now, in the very height of Clark's anxiety, there 
arrived at Kaskaskia, on the evening of the twenty- 
ninth of January, Francis Vigo, of the firm of Vigo 
and Gosti, merchants of St. Louis, connected in bus- 
iness with the Governor of Upper Louisiana. Vigo 
was just from Vincennes, whither he had gone early 
in December"^ on his own private business. f He was 
there when the place was taken by Hamilton, J but 
was detained by the Lieutenant Governor. However, 
he soon found means of escaping,§ and while on his 
way back to St. Louis, stopped at Kaskaskia. || 

The Colonel lost no time in writing to the Vir- 
ginia governor, giving the particulars he had just 

* Vigo must have started for Vincennes after the fourth 
of December, as he cashed a draft on that day either at Kas- 
kaskia or St. Louis, drawn by Clark on Oliver Pollock, the 
Virginia agent at New Orleans. (See A Centennial Lazusuit. 
By. C. C. Baldwin. Western Reserve and Northern Ohio 
Historical Society's Tract, No. 35, Dec. 1876.) 

t "On his lawful business" : "Bowman's Journal" in De- 
partment of State MSS. It is the same when printed in 
Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 99. 

X Clark to Mason. — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 63. 

§ Clark to the Governor of Virginia, Feb. 3d [Jan. 30th], 
1779. {Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, pp. 315, 
316). The imprisonment of Vigo by Hamilton was only to 
detain him in Vincennes. Being a Spanish subject, he was 
well treated, — only required to report himself once a day 
at headquarters, but his merchandise was confiscated. 

II Vigo did not go to St. Louis first as has been very 
generally asserted. (See Appendix to our narrative. Note 
LXXX.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 299 

received from Vigo: "No attack is to be made on 
the garrison at Kaskaskia until the Spring. The 
passage is too difficult at present. His Indians are 
sent to war against different parts of the country, 
especially Kentucky. Belts, presents, and speeches 
are sent to all the nations south of the Ohio, request- 
ing them immediately to meet at a general council 
at the mouth of the Tennessee river, to lay the best 
plans for cutting ofif the rebels in the Illinois and 
in Kentucky." 

"The Grande Couette and his nation," continued 
the Colonel, "living at Port St. Vincent [Vincennes] 
told Hamilton that he and his people were Big Knives 
and would not give their hands any more to the 
English ; for he would shortly see his father who was 
at Kaskaskia. There are ninety regulars in the gar- 
rison at Vincennes ; also a few volunteers, and about 
fifty Shawanese Indians, that are shortly to go to 
war. They are very busy in repairing the fort, which 
will shortly be very strong. One brass six-pounder, 
two iron four-pounders, and two swivels, are mounted 
in the bastions. They have plenty of ammunition and 
provisions, and all kinds of warlike stores, and are 
making preparations for the reduction of the Illinois 
and other places held by the rebels. They have no 
suspicions of a visit from the x\mericans. This was 
Mr. Hamilton's circumstances when Mr. Vigo left 
him."* But he also informed Clark that Hamilton's 
force when the Governor reached Vincennes consisted 
of thirty regulars, with fifty French volunteers and 

* Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, pp. 315, 316. 
The Piankeshaw chief, Grande Couette (or Coite), is men- 
tioned by Clark as the ''Grand Kite." The Colonel's knowl- 
edge of the French language was limited. 



300 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

about four hundred Indians,* and further that he 
not only took the fort with Capt. Helm and several 
other Americans who were there, but secured a num- 
ber of horses designed for Kentucky. f 

Hamilton was fully in the belief, when he heard 
of the desertion of the corporal and six men of La- 
mothe's company at the mouth of the Wabash, that 
they went directly to Kaskaskia, where some of the 
men had relatives living; J and he subsequently de- 
clared they were the first to give Clark intelligence 
of his being at Vincennes.§ It is doubtful if he ever 
learned the real offender was Vigo. 

If the situation had before appeared desperate to 
the American commander, it seemed no less critical 
on his getting the intelligence communicated by Vigo, 
''At this moment," he subsequently wrote, "I would 
have bound myself seven years a slave to have had 
five hundred troops." The only probable way to main- 
tain the country was, in his judgment, to take ad- 
vangtage at once of Hamilton's weakness ; perhaps 
he might be fortunate. He considered the inclemency 
of the season and the badness of the roads, or trails, 
an advantage; as the enemy would be more off their 
guard in all quarters. So the next day after Vigo's 
appearance, he collected his officers about him and told 

* "Bowman's Journal" in Department of State MSS. 
(See also Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 99.) 

t "Bowman's Journal," Department of State MSS. (See 
as to Clark's published errors concerning the information 
brought him by Vigo, Appendix to our narrative, Note 
LXXXI.) 

X Hamilton to Haldimand, Jan. 24-30, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

§ Same to same, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 301 

them what he beheved the chances were for success. 
They agreed with their commander; and all were 
eager for the trial."^ 

As a number of days must have passed after Vigo 
left Vincenne.s before his arrival at Kaskaskia — that 
fact accounts for his not knowing of the return home 
of most of the savages from the place first mentioned. 
Had Clark known of the departure of the Indians, 
his determination to march against Hamilton would 
not have seemed so desperate. 

''30th [Jan.] — On which CoL Clark called a coun- 
cil with his officers and it was concluded to go and 
attack Gov. Hamilton at all events; for fear, if it 
was let alone 'till the spring, that he with his Indians 
would undoubtedly cut us all off. — "Bowman's 
Journal" in the department of State MSS. (See ap- 
pendix to our narrative, Note LXXXII, concerning 
some published errors as to the reasons inducing 
Clark to undertake the capture of Hamilton in Vin- 
cennes." 

It was immediately after taking his resolution that 
Clark wrote the Governor of Virginia : 

*'As it is now near twelve months since I have 
had the least intelligence from you, I almost despair 
of any relief being sent to me. I have, for many 
months past, had reports of an [American] arrny 
marching against Detroit, but no certainty. A late 
maneuver of the famous Hair-Buyer General, Henry - 
Hamilton, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor of Detroit, 
has alarmed us much. On the sixteenth [17th] of 
December, last, he, with a body of six hundred men. 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp, 
63, 64. 



302 HISTORY aF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

composed of regulars, French volunteers, and Indians, 
took possession of St. Vincent [Vincennes] on the 
Wabash and what few men composed the garrison, 
they not being able to make the least defense. Ham- 
ilton is influencing all the Indians he possibly can to 
join him. I learn that those who have treated with 
me, have as yet refused his offers. I have for some 
time expected an attack from him. He has blocked 
up the Ohio river with a party of French and Indians." 
"Being sensible," Clark continued," that, with- 
out a reinforcement, which, at present I have hardly 
a right to expect, I shall be obliged to give up the 
country to Mr. Hamilton, unless there is a turn of 
fortune in my favor, I am resolved to take advantage 
of his present situation and risk the whole in a single 
battle. I shall set out in a few days with all the force 
I can raise of my own troops and a few militia that 
I can depend on," "I know," he added, "the case is 
desperate; but, sir, we must either quit the country 
or attack Mr. Hamilton. No time is to be lost. Were 
I sure of a reinforcement, I should not attempt it. 
Who knows what fortune will do for us? Great 
things have been effected by a few men well con- 
ducted. Perhaps we may be fortunate. We have 
this consolation, that our cause is just, and that our 
country will be grateful and not condemn our con- 
duct in case we fall through. If we fail, the Illinois 
as well as Kentucky, I beHeve, is lost."^ 

* Clark to the Governor of Virginia, Feb. 3 [Jan. 30], 
1779. (Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, pp. 315, 
316.) It will be noticed that even in writing so soon after 
his conversation with Vigo, the Colonel exaggerated some- 
what—placing the whole body of men under Hamilton who 
took possession of Vincennes at six hundred. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 303 

So it was the American commander saw there 
was no alternative; he must attack the enemy in 
Vincennes. He must take Hamilton or Hamilton 
would take him. 

So soon as Clark had matured his plans, he 
aroused himself to the utmost exertion. On the last 
day of January, he sent an express to Captain Richard 
McCarty, who had gone back to Cahokia with the 
volunteer company that came away when Captain 
Bowman left there, ordering him to return to Kas- 
kaskia. The determination of the American com- 
mander to march against Vincennes was quickly 
known throughout all the Illinois towns. "The whole 
country," he wrote, "took fire at the alarm; and 
every order was executed with cheerfulness by every 
description of the inhabitants." Provisions were pre- 
pared; volunteering was encouraged; "and, as we 
had plenty of stores," adds the Commander, "every 
man was completely rigged with what he could de- 
sire to withstand the coldest weather."* 

The Colonel conducted himself as though he was. 
sure of taking Hamilton; and he instructed his of- 
ficers "to observe the same rule." In a day or two, 
the inhabitants all seemed to believe it. Many per- 
sons, anxious to retrieve their character for loyalty 
to the American cause, enlisted for the expedition. 
The ladies, also, began to be spirited and to interest 
themselves in the undertaking, "which had great ef- 
fect on the young men."t 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
138. 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 64. - 



304 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

On the first day of February, in accordance with 
Clark's determination of two day's previous, orders 
were given for "a large bateau" — which, in reality, 
was a small galley, fitted out some time previous — ■ 
to be got ready for the expedition. It .was finished on 
the third, ''completely fitted up," and her loading, 
consisting of provisions ''and great stores of ammuni- 
tion," put on board, together with two four-pounders 
and four large swivels. This gun-boat, the first one 
prepared by the Americans west of Pittsburg, was 
named the Willing, in honor of Captain James Will- 
ing. She was manned by forty-six men and a lieu- 
tenant — ''a fine company" — all under command of 
Lieutenant John Rogers. "This vessel when com- 
plete," afterwards wrote Clark, "was much admired 
by the inhabitants, as no such thing had been seen 
in the country before. I had great expectations from 
her." 

Lieutenant Rogers was directed to force his way 
up the Wabash to within ten leagues of Vincennes 
(as high as the mouth of the White river), and td 
secrete himself until further orders; but if he found 
himself discovered, he was to do the enemy all the 
damage he could without running too great a risk of 
losing his 'vessel, and not to leave the river until he 
had no longer hope of Clark's arrival by land; but, 
by all m_eans, he was to conduct himself so as to give 
no suspicion of the approach of the American com- 
mander. If Clark should suffer defeat, the boat was 
to join Col. David Rogers on the Mississippi. This 
officer, who was a member of the Virginia senate, on 
the fourteenth of January, 1778, had been selected by 
Governor Henry to proceed to New Orleans to bring 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 305 

up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers some goods sent 
there by Spain for that State — "which you will take," 
said the Governor in his instructions, "under your 
care and safely convey home." "You are to take my 
instructions to Colonel Clark," continued Henry, "by 
which he is directed to escort you homeward." Rogers 
raised a small party of men in the Redstone (now 
Brownsville) region of Pennsylvania and in keel-boats 
floated down, after considerable trouble and delay, 
to New Orleans. When he arrived, he found he 
would have to return to St. Louis to obtain the goods ; 
he started up the Mississippi for that purpose. How- 
ever, early in October, 1779, after reaching a point 
just above the mouth of the Licking river on the Ohio, 
his force was attacked by Indians, a large portion killed 
or taken prisoners, and much of his cargo captured. 
Rogers was killed. The Willing left Kaskaskia about 
two o'clock in the afternoon of the fourth of Feb- 
ruary.^ 

About ten o'clock of the same day of the de- 
parture of the gun-boat, Captain McCarty arrived with 
a company of volunteers from Cahokia ; and, on the 
fifth, a company was raised in Kaskaskia under the 

* Clark to Gov. Henry of Virginia, Feb. 3 [Jan. 30], 1779: 
Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 316. Jefferson's 
Works, vol. I, p. 222 n. "Bowman's Journal," of Feb. 1, 
1779, Department of State MSS., — and as printed in Clark's 
Campaign in the Illinois, p. 99. See, also, p. 64 — Clark to 
Mason — printed in the work last cited ; and Clark's Memoir 
— Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 138. For the fact that 
there was a lieutenant of the crew — not the commander of 
the boat — I am indebted to another and trustworthy account. 
(See, also, as to the Willing, Appendix to our narrative, Note 
LXXXIII.) 

20 



306 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

command of Captain Charleville. A pack-horse mas- 
ter had previously been appointed and ordered to 
prepare pack-saddles and other necessary equipments 
for the horses which were to be taken along. Pro- 
visions, also, sufficient in quantity, as was supposed, 
to supply the men on the march, were provided. "^^ 

"The principal persons which follow me on this 
forlorn hope," wrote the American commander be- 
fore starting, "are Captains Joseph Bowman, John 
Williams, Edward Worthington, Richard McCarty and 
Francis Charleville; Lieutenants Richard Brashear, 
Wliliam Keller, Abraham Chapline, John Gerault, and 
John Bayley; also several other brave subalterns. 
You must be sensible of the feeling I have for these 
brave officers and soldiers that are determined to share 
my fate, let it be what it will."t 

* See Appendix, Note LXXXIV, as to error concerning 
the supplies taken along by Clark. 

t Clark to the Governor of Virginia, February 3 [Jan. 30], 
1779. (Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, pp. 315, 
316), before cited. I have corrected Clark's spelling of sev- 
eral names. In his letter to Mason, the Colonel says he was 
"joined by two volunteer companies of the principal young 
men of the Illinois, commanded by Captains McCarty and 
Charleville ; those of the troops were commanded by Captains 
Bowman, Williams and Worthington, of the light horse." 
{Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 65.) 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ON the fifth day of February, 1779, all prepara- 
tions for the march from Kaskaskia to Vin- 
cennes having been completed, Colonel Clark 
and his little band (himself at its head) moved out 
of the place under escort of the inhabitants of the 
village.* Father Gibault "after a very suitable dis- 
course," gave them — one hundred and seventy in 
number — absolution ; "and we set out," wrote the 
Commander subsequently, "on a forlorn hope indeed ; 
for our whole party, with the boat's crew, consisted 
of only a little upwards of two hundred. I cannot 
account for it, but I still had inward assurance of 
success, and never could, when weighing every cir- 
cumstance, doubt it. But I had some secret check."t 
The Colonel left the fort in Kaskaskia governed 
by the militia — about every other one of the able- 
bodied men enrolling themselves to guard the several 

* "On the 5th I marched" : Clark to Mason — Clark's 
Campaign in the Illinois, p. 65. The same date is given in 
Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 139, and 
in "Bowman's Journal," in the Department of State MSS. 
There can be no doubt about that being the day of starting; 
and yet, in his letter to the Governor of Virginia of the 29th 
of April {leiferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222 n), the Colonel 
says: "I marched on the 7th of February." It was a slip 
of his memory; or, he may not, for certain reasons hereafter 
mentioned, have considered the 5th and 6th as really marching 
days. 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
— . (See as to the entire force which went against Vincennes, 
Appendix to our narrative, Note LXXXV.) 

(307) 



308 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

villages. The distance to be traveled was about two 
hundred miles,"^' "through, I suppose," "afterwards 
wrote Clark, "one of the most beautiful countries in 
the world, but, at this time, in many parts flowing 
with water, and the marching exceedingly bad." 

After crossing the Kaskaskia river, at about three 
o'clock in the afternoon, the march began. Clark rode 
a horse which had been brought from New Mexico, 
— "The finest stallion by far that is in the country," 
wrote the Colonel subsequently.! Only about three 
miles were made the first day, when they encamped, 
the weather being rainy and drizzly. Here they lay 
the next day, — starting early, however, on the seventh 
and making a good day's progress — nine leagues, 
notwithstanding the roads were heavy, owing to mud 
and water. Their camp that night was pitched in a 
square — baggage in the center; each company was 
to guard its own. Fortunately, though the weather 
was wet, it was not cold for the season.J 

The route the army was following was one known 
as the "Vincennes trace," from Kaskaskia to Vin- 
cennes. It was a portion of the same trail, leading 
on to Wea — thence to Detroit — traveled at an early 
day by the French and Indians, from the Mississippi 
to the lakes — from Louisiana to Canada. It bore off 
to the northeastward, but inclining northward to avoid 

* Appendix, Note LXXXVI. 

t Clark to Gov. Henry, March 9, 1779,— Haldimand MSS. 

X "Bowman's Journal," Feb. 7, 1779. — Department of State 
MSS. In this Journal as printed — Clark's Campaign in the 
Illinois (p. 100) — the "leagues" marched are mentioned as 
"hours." Compare, in connection with this day's march, Clark 
to Mason, in the work last cited (p. 65) ; also Clark's 
Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 139. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 309 



the deep water in some of the rivers necessary to be 
crossed. 

On the eighth ''[we] marched," says one of the 
men, in his record of that day, "early through the 
water, which we now began to meet in those large 
and level plains, where, from the flatness of the coun- 
try, [it] rests a considerable time before it drains off. 
Notwithstanding [which] our men were in great spirits 
though much fatigued."* 

The next day — the ninth — the march was re- 
sumed. Only a moderate day's progress was made, 
as it rained most of the timef The Petit ForkJ was 
reached on the tenth, but its waters were so high, 
"there was no fording it ;" so it had to be crossed on 
trees that were cut down for that purpose. It was still 
raining; and, as there were no tents brought along, 
the stormy weather made it disagreeable for all dur- 
ing their encampment that night, which was near the 
river. The next day, the Saline river was crossed. 
On the twelfth, "numbers of buffaloes" were seen and 
killed. The road was very bad from the immense 
quantity of rain that had fallen, and, as a conse- 
quence, the men were very tired. The encampment 
was made that night on the edge of the woods; the 
prairie — "Cat Plain," as it was then called — which 

* "Bowman's Journal." 

t "9th. Made a moderate day's march, rain'd most of 
the day" — "Bowman's Journal" in Department of State MSS. 
But, when printed, the entry reads: "9th. Made another 
day's march. Fair the part of the day." See Clark's Cam- 
paign in the Illinois, p. 100. 

X "Bowman's journal" — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 100, correcting the entry in the MS. Journal, where it is 
given "Petit Ford," 



310 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



had just been traversed, being fifteen miles or more 
across, it was late in the night before the baggage and 
troops got together. From this point Vincennes was 
twenty-one French leagues — about fifty miles — dis- 
tant, in a direction a little north of east.* 

Thus far on the march, the spirits of the men 
were excellent. They had been permitted "to shoot 
game on all occasions," says Clark, ''and feast on it 
like Indian war-dancers — each company by turns in- 
viting the other to their feasts, which was the case 
every night, as the company that was to give the 
feast was always supplied with horses to lay up a 
sufficient store of wild meat in the course of the 
day — myself and principal officers putting on the 
woodsmen, shouting now and then, and running as 
much through the mud and water as any of them.f 

It was early on the thirteenth that the drowned 
lands of the Little Wabash were reached. The first 
obstruction of any consequence was now encountered. 
The two Wabashes — that is, the Little Wabash and 
a tributary flowing into it from the north — were 
before them, and although three miles apart they made 
but one stream, the overflowed water between them 
being at least three feet deep and in many places 
four. It was nearly five miles to the opposite hills, 
and, in that distance, the shallowest place, except 
about a hundred yards, was three feet. "This," said 
the Colonel afterwards, "would have been enough 

* Bowman's Journal" — Department of State MSS. The 
printed Journal erroneously gives twenty-one miles. (See 
Appendix to our narrative, Note LXXXVII.) 

t Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
139. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note LXXXVIII.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 311 

to have stopped any set of men not in the same 
temper we were." 

"We reached on the 13th [the banks of the Little 
Wabash], through incredible difficulties," is the sub- 
sequent relation of Clark, "far surpassing anything 
that any of us had ever experienced. Frequently the 
diversions of the night wore off the thoughts of the 
preceding day. We formed a camp on a height which 
we found on the bank of the river, and suffered our 
troops to amuse themselves. I viewed this sheet of 
water for some time with distrust; but, accusing my- 
self of doubting, I immediately set to work, without 
holding any consultation about it, or suffering any 
body else to do so in my presence ; ordered a pirogue 
to be buijt immediately, and acted as though crossing 
the water would be only a piece of diversion. As 
but few could work at the pirogue at a time, pains 
were taken to find diversion for the rest, tO' keep 
them in high spirits.""^ 

The pirogue was finished the next day, and was 
put into the river about four o'clock in the after- 
noon. It was manned and sent to explore the drowned 
lands on the opposite side of the united streams. The 
crew had private instructions from the Colonel what 
to report on their return; and, if possible, they were 
to find some spot of dry land. They found about 
half an acre, and marked the trees thence back to 
the camp ; they brought back, of course, a very 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
139, 140. "Bowman's Journal" of the 13th of Feb., in Depart- 
ment of State MSS. and as printed — Clark's Campaign in the 
Illinois, p. 101. Clark, in his letter to Mason (p. QQ of the 
work last cited), calls the pirogue "a large canoe," which 
it really was. 



312 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

favorable account. No attempt was made to utilize 
the pirogue again until the fifteenth, when the first 
channel was ferried across, the men going no farther 
than to shallow water on the opposite side. There 
they erected a scaffold on which was placed the bag- 
gage, which had been brought along, where it re- 
mained until they swam the horses over, when it 
was placed upon their backs and thus taken to the 
edge of the second channel, the canoe again ferry- 
ing the men over, as had been done in the first in- 
stance, when another scaffold was built and the bag- 
gage placed upon it. The horses were then made to 
swim a second time ; and when this scaffold was 
reached, they were again loaded : and men and animals 
waded in safety to the high ground, where a camp 
was made. This transit was accomplished in one 
day, and much of the time it was raining.* Orders 
were then issued not to fire any guns for the future, 
except in case of necessity. f Caution was necessary 
because of the near approach to the enemy. 

The march on the sixteenth was continued, but 
under difficulties, as it rained the whole time and 
the men were continually compelled to wade through 

* Appendix, Note LXXXIX. ' 

t The wording of "Bowman's Journal" in the Department 
of State MSS., for the fifteenth is as follows : 

"15. Ferried across the two Wabashes with it [the canoe; 
— it] being then five miles in water to the opposite hills, 
where we encamped. Still raining. Orders given to fire no 
guns in future, except in cases of necessity." As printed 
{Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 101), the words are 
these, for the same date : "15th. Ferried across the two 
Wabashes, it being then five miles in water to the opposite 
hills, where we encamped. Still raining. Orders not to fire 
any guns for the future but in case of necessity." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 313 

water. Another small river was forded, when, un- 
fortunately, provisions for 'the force began to grow 
short.* 

Early on the seventeenth, the march was resumed; 
several very deep runs were crossed. Patrick Ken- 
nedy, commissary of the little army, was then sent 
with three men to endeavor to cross the river Em- 
barrass, and proceed to a point on the west side of 
the Wabash opposite Vincennes, where there was a 
plantation, — there to steal, if possible, boats or canoes 
to ferry the troops over the stream last mentioned, 
which the force was now approaching. The low 
lands of the Embarrass were soon reached by Clark, 
— only nine miles from Fort Sackville, but the post 
was on the east side of the Wabash; and it was 
not much of an exaggeration of the Colonel when he 
declared, — "and every foot of the way covered with 
deep water." 

The Colonel and his men got near the Embarrass 
about an hour before sunset. f This river enters the 
Wabash on the west not a great distance below Vin- 
cennes, its. general course being southeast. The Colonel 
now strove to find the parent stream. After traveling 
till eight o'clock in mud and water still the Wabash 
was not reached, nor was there any place on which 
to encamp. Presently Mr. Kennedy and his party 
returned, having found it impossible to cross the Em- 

* The stream crossed on the sixteenth is given in "Bow- 
man's Journal," {Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 101), 
as "Fox river ;" in Clark's Memoir [Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 
1859), p. 141], as "Fur river;" in "Bowman's Journal" in 
the Department of State MSS., the name is not mentioned. 
The probability is that "Fox river" is the true reading. 

t Appendix, Note XC. 



314 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

barrass. At length a small spot of ground was dis- 
covered from which the- water had fallen and upon 
it the army staid the remainder of the night. The 
weather was dark and drizzly.* 

At break of day, on the eighteenth, Hamilton's 
morning gun in Fort Sackville was heard. Clark set 
off and marched down the Embarrass. Some fine land 
was seen. At about two o'clock, the bank of the 
Wabash was reached. Rafts for four men tO' cross 
the river were made, to enable them to go up to 
Vincennes to steal boats ; but the attempt proved 
abortive. They spent the day and the night on some 
old logs in the water to no purpose, for there was 
not one foot of dry land to be found; they got back 
to their comrades the next day at three o'clock. The 
camp of the army for the night was about ten miles 
from Vincennes. The army had marched nine miles 
down the Embarrass and the distance was greater 
to Fort Sackville than at the point where the stream 
was first reached. There was not, the Colonel sub- 
sequently declared, more than one-quarter of the ten 
miles yet to be traveled "that was not three feet 
and upwards under water, and there was not a mouth- 
ful of provisions left.f 

On the nineteenth Captain McCarty's company 
was set at work making a canoe. When it was 
finished three men embarked in it along with the 

* "Bowman's Journal" of the seventeenth. See also Clark 
to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 66. In Clark's 
Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 141 — "Bowman's 
Journal" for the day is copied, but Mr, Kennedy's name is 
given incorrectly as "Kernedy." 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 66. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 315 

Captain, to make still another (the third) attempt to 
steal boats. The party, however, soon returned, hav- 
ing discovered four large fires about a league up the 
river which seemed to be those of whites and Indians. 

As yet nothing had been heard of the Willing. 
Clark ordered two men into the canoe with directions 
to drop down the Wabash until they met Lieutenant 
Rogers and his galley. Word was sent the com- 
mander of the boat to come on day and night, as 
that seemed now about the last hope of x the little 
army. Many of the men were much cast down, par- 
ticularly the volunteers. They had had no provisions 
of any sort for two days. It is not too much to 
say starvation stared them in the face. It seemed 
indeed a "hard fortune."* 

Here is the suggestive entry of one of the force 
in his journal for the next day — the twentieth: 
"Camp very quiet, but hungry. Some almost in de- 
spair. Many of the Creole volunteers talk of return- 
ing." But the subsequent narration of Clark adds 
somewhat of a silver lining to this dark cloud : "Many 
of our volunteers began, for the first time, to de- 
spair. Some talked of returning; but my situation 
was now such that I was past all uneasiness. I 
laughed at them without persuading or ordering them 
to desist from any such attempt; but told them I 
should be glad if they would go out and kill some 
deer. They went, confused with such conduct. M3S 
own troops I knew had no idea of abandoning an 
enterprise for the want of provisions while there were 
plenty of good horses in their possession; and I 

* "Bowman's Journal" for the nineteenth. 



316 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

knew that, without any violence, the volunteers could 
be detained for a few days, in the course of which 
time our fate would be known. I conducted myself 
in a manner that caused the whole to believe that 1 
had no doubt of success, which kept their spirits 
up."* 

Orders were now given for the making of more 
canoes. At noon, a boat on the river was brought 
to having on board five Frenchmen from Vincennes. 
Clark was informed by them that he was not as 
yet discovered, and that the inhabitants were well- 
disposed toward the Americans. They also gave in- 
formation that Captain Williams' brother, who had 
been captured just after leaving Fort Sackville with 
the letter of Captain Helm to Clark in his care, had 
made his escape; and that Francis Maisonville, with 
a party of Indians, were then seven days in pursuit 
of him.f The Colonel likewise obtained from the 
Frenchmen a full report of the repairs made to the 
fort, of its strength, and of the number of men con- 
stituting the garrison. He was told by them of two 
canoes being adrift some distance up the Wabash; 
whereupon Captain Worthington was ordered, with a 
party, to go in search of them. He returned late, one 
only having been secured. One of Clark's men, be- 
fore dark, killed a deer, which was brought into 
camp; "this was very acceptable." 

At daybreak, on the twenty-first of February, the 
ferrying over the Wabash in two canoes — the one 
captured, also one just completed — to a small hill 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
141 n. 

t Appendix, Note XCI. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 317 

called the "Lower _ Mamelle," began.* Clark would 
have crossed at a greater distance from Vincennes, 
but the White river coming in just below made him 
fearful of getting too near it. All reached the op- 
posite (left) bank of the Wabash in safety, the horses 
being left behind in care of a guard detailed for that 
purpose.f Captain Williams was sent ahead to look 
for a passage on the east side of the stream to the 
town, he having crossed the river with the first who 
reached the eastern shore for that purpose, taking with 
him two men. The three were discovered by two 
men in a canoe, and as they could not be "brought 
to," Captain Williams thought it advisable to return. 
The whole force being across the river, Clark thought 
he might reach the town that night; so the men 
plunged into the water, sometimes up to the neck, and 
continued wading for more than three miles, when 
a halt was called on a second hill called also "Ma- 
melle." It rained all day and there were no provisions. 
Here they encamped. It was the opinion of the pilots 
that no further progress could be made. 

The record of one of the men for the twenty- 
second of the month though exceedingly brief, is 
suggestive : "Colonel Clark encouraged his men which 
gave them great spirits. Marched on in the water. 
Those that were weak and faintish from so much 

* "21st. [Feb.]. At break of day began to ferry our men 
over in our two canoes to a small little hill called the Lower 
Mamelle (or Bubbie)." — "Bowman's Journal" in Department 
of State MSS. 

"•21st [Feb.]. At break of day began to ferry our men 
over in our two canoes to a small hill." Same in Clark's 
Campaign in the Illinois, p. 102. 

t This fact sufficiently appears hereafter. 



318 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

fatigue went in the canoes. We came one league 
farther to some sugar camps, where we staid all night. 
Heard the evening and morning guns from the fort 
[in Vincennes]. No provisions yet. Lord help us!"* 

The five 'Frenchmen who were from Vincennes 
and were taken on the river below, on the twentieth, 
gave information at this time concerning the route 
that was of value of Clark. It was from them the 
Colonel got knowledge of the sugar camps on the 
bank of the river, where he was now encamped. Years 
after, Clark wrote that he had, on learning from 
their conversation, the position of the high ground, 
sent a canoe to examine the route, which returned 
without finding the passage there feasible. He adds 
that he then went himself and sounded the water and 
found it as deep as to his neck. 'T returned," are 
his words in addition, "with a design to have the 
men transported on board the canoes to the sugar 
camp, which I knew would take the whole day and 
ensuing night as the vessels would pass slowly through 
the bushes. The loss of so much time to men half 
starved was a matter of consequence. I would have 
given a great deal for a day's provision." 

Clark continues : "1 returned but slowly to the 
troops, giving myself time to think. On our arrival, 
all ran to hear what was the report. Every eye was 
fixed on me. I unfortunately spoke in a serious man- 
ner to one of the officers; the whole were alarmed 
without knowing what I said. I viewed their con- 

* "Bowman's Journal" for this day as printed — Clark's 
Campaign in the Illinois, p. 103 — agrees with the one in the 
Department of State MSS., except as to the single word 
"faintish," which is given as "famished," which does not 
express the true idea. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 319 

fusion for about one minute — whispered to those 
near to me to do as I did; immediately I put some 
water in my hand, poured on powder, blackened my 
face, gave the wharwhoop, and marched into the 
water without saying a word. The party gazed and 
fell in silently, one after another, like a flock of sheep. 
I ordered those near me to begin a favorite song of 
theirs ; it soon passed through the line, and the whole 
went on cheerfully."* 

Clark also says : 'T now intended to have them 
transported across the deepest part of. the water; 
but when about waist deep, one of the men informed 
me that he thought he felt a path. We examined 
and found it so, and concluded that it kept on the 
highest ground, which it did, and by taking pains to 
follow it, we got to the sugar camp without the 
least difficulty, where was about half an acre of dry 
ground, — at least not under water, where we took 
up our lodging."t 

At this time, the five Frenchmen from Vincennes 
appeared to be uneasy at the situation. They begged 
of the Colonel that they might go in the two canoes 
to town that night. They said they would bring from 
their own houses provisions without a possibility of 
any one knowing it; that some of his men should 
go with them as a surety for their good conduct; 
and that it was impossible for the army to march any 
farther until the water fell, as the plain was too 
deep to be traversed. Some of the officers thought 
the plan might be adopted, but Clark would not 
suffer it to be done. 'T never could," are his words 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
142, 143. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note XCII.) 
t Clark's Memoir, loc. cit. 



320 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

subsequently, "well account for this piece of obstinacy 
and give satisfactory reasons to myself or anybody 
else why I denied a proposition apparently so easy 
to execute and of so much advantage, but something 
seemed to tell me that it should not be done, and 
it was not done."* 

It was very early in the morning of the twenty- 
third that the little army, "prodigiously hungry," be- 
gan its march. t At the very commencement, there 
was a stretch of land called the "Horseshoe Plain," 
more than three miles across, "all covered with water 
breast high." Here it was thought some of the men 
would surely perish, — it having frozen in the night> 
and all had been so long fasting. Having no other 
resource but wading this plain (or rather lake) of 
waters, they plunged into it with courage. Colonel 
Clark being first, taking care to have the boats close 
by to take those that were weak and numbed with 
cold, into them.f " Never were men so animated with 

* Clark's Memoir, loc. cit. But before giving these inci- 
dents, Clark confounds the day in which they took place 
with the previous one. He also says in connection with his 
remarks concerning the scarcity of provisions that he would 
have given a great deal for one of his horses, — his meaning 
doubtless was — that it might have been killed and served 
out as food to his men. 

t Clark's Journal — entry of Feb. 23, 1779. — Haldlmand 
MSS. This Journal is not to be confounded with "Bowman's 
Journal" or Clark's Memoir. (See Appendix to our narra- 
tive, Note CXXVII.) 

X "Bowman's Journal" as printed, is evidently at fault in 
saying Clark took "care to have the boats try to take those 
that were weak and numbed with the cold into them" (the 
italicising is mine). I have followed the one in the Depart- 
ment of State MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 321 

the thought of avenging the wrongs done to their 
back settlements as this small army was."* 

Pressing onward against such almost insurmount- 
able obstacles, keeping up good hearts in hopes of a 
speedy sight of the town, at last, at not later than 
two o'clock in the afternoon, the long-sought village 
came in sight. "The spirit of my men," wrote Clark, 
''seemed to revive." "We marched up under cover 
of a wood," adds the Colonel, "called the 'Warriors' 
island,' where we lay concealed until sunset."t 

"To our inexpressible joy in the evening of the 
twenty- third," wrote the commander subsequently, 
"we got safe on terra firma within half a league of the 
fort, covered by a small grove of trees, where we 
had a full view of the wished-for spot."$ 

In after years Clark recorded a number of inci-" 
dents of this day not mentioned in any contem- 
poraneous accounts : "The most of the weather we 
had on this march [from Kaskaskia] was moist and 
warm for the season. This [the one of the twenty- 
third of February] was the coldest night we had. The 
ice in the morning was from one-half to three-quarters 
of an inch thick near the shores and in still water. 

* "Bowman's Journal," entry of Feb. 23, 1779. As to the 
spirits of the men, notwithstanding their famishing condition, 
Clark, in his Journal, says : "Set off very early [on the 
morning of the 23d] ; waded better than three miles on a 
stretch; our people prodigious[ly hungry], yet they keep up 
a good heart in hopes of a speedy sight of our enemy." 

t Clark's Journal. — Haldimand MSS. In "Bowman's 
Journal" as printed "Warriors' island" is incorrectly given as 
"Warren's Island" — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 104. 

X Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 67. 

21 



322 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The morning [of the twenty-third] was the finest we 
had on our march. A httle after sunrise I lectured 
the whole. What I said to them I forgot ; but it may 
be easily imagined by a person that could possess my 
affections for them at that time : — I concluded by 
informing them that passing the plain that was in 
full view and reaching the opposite woods [War- 
riors' island"] would put an end to their fatigue; 
that in a few hours they would have a sight of their 
long-wished for object; and [I] immediately stept 
into the water without waiting for a reply. A huzza 
took place." 

*'As we generally marched through the water in 
a line," continues Clark, "before the third [man] 
entered, I halted and called to Major [Captain] Bow- 
man, ordering him to fall in the rear with twenty- 
five men and put to death any man who refused to 
march, as we wished to have no such person among 
us. The whole gave a cry of approbation, and on 
we went. This was the most trying of all the diffi- 
culties we had experienced, I generally kept fifteen 
or twenty of the strongest men near myself, and 
judged from my own feelings what must be that of 
others. Getting about the middle of the plain, the 
water about mid-deep, I found myself sensibly failing, 
and as there were no trees nor bushes for the men 
to support themselves by, I feared that many of the 
most weak would be drowned. I ordered the canoes 
to make the land, discharge their loading, and play 
backward and forward with all diligence and pick 
up the men; and, to encourage the party, sent some 
of* the strongest men forward with orders when they 
got to a certain place, to pass the word back that 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 323 

the water was getting shallow, and when getting near 
the woods to cry out 'Land !' This strategem had 
the desired effect. The men encouraged by it exerted 
themselves almost beyond their abilities, — the weak 
holding by the stronger. . . . ^ The water never 
got shallower, but continued deepening. Getting to 
the woods where the men expected [dry] land, the 
water was up to my shoulders, but gaining the woods 
was of great consequence ; all the low men and weakly 
hung to the trees and floated on the old logs, until 
they were taken off by the canoes. The strong and 
tall got ashore and built fires. Many would reach 
the shore and fall, with their bodies half in the water, 
not being able to support themselves without it." 

"This," adds Clark, "was a. delightful dry spot of 
ground of about ten acres. We soon found that the 
fires answered no purpose, but that two strong men 
taking a weaker one by the arms was the only way 
to recover him; and, it being a delightful day, it 
soon did. But fortunately, as if designed by Provi- 
dence, a canoe of Indian squaws and children was 
coming up to town, and took through part of this 
plain as a high way. It was discovered by our canoes 
as they were out after the men. They gave chase 
and took the Indian canoe, on board of which were 
near half a quarter of a buffalo, some corn, tallow, 
kettles, etc. This was' a grand prize and was in- 
valuable. Broth was immediately made and served 
out to the most weakly with great care : most of the 
whole got a little; but a great many gave their part 
to the weakly, jocosely saying something cheering to 
their comrades. This little refreshment and fine 
weather, by the afternoon, gave new life to the whole," 



324 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"Crossing a narrow deep lake in the canoes, and 
marching some distance," are Clark's further re- 
marks, ''we came to a copse of timber called the 
Warrior's island. We were now in full view of the 
fort and town (not a shrub between us) at about 
two miles' distance. Every man now feasted his eyes 
and forgot that he had suffered anything, — saying 
that all that had passed was owing to good policy 
and nothing but what a man could bear ; and that a 
soldier had no right to think, etc., — passing from one 
extreme to anotlier, which is common in such cases."* 

The Colonel in writing to a friend a few months 
after the transpiring of these events, says : "If I 
were sensible that you would let no person see this 
relation, I would give you a detail of our suffering 
for four days in crossing those waters [meaning 
from the twentieth to the twenty-third day of Feb- 
ruary, inclusive], and the manner it was done, as I 
am sure you would credit it, but it is too incredible 
for any person to believe except those that are well 
acquainted with me as you are, or had experience 
something similar to it."t 

While the army was lying on "Warriors' island" 
to dry their clothes by the sun, another prisoner, 
known to be a friend, was taken, by whom the Colonel 
got all the intelligence he wished for, being informed 
by him that no one suspected his coming at that season 
of the year, and further, it seems, that the walls of 
Fort Sackville had just been completed and that there 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
143-145. 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 
QQ, 67. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note XCIII.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 325 

were a good many Indians in Vincennes ; but the 
man captured was only allowed to see but few of the 
soldiers. ''A thousand ideas," says Clark, ''flashed 
in my head at this moment. I found that Governor 
Hamilton was able to defend himself for a consider- 
able time, but knew he was not able to turn out of 
the fort; that if the siege continued long, a superior 
number might come against us, as I knew there was 
a party of English not far above in the river; and 
that, if they found out our numbers, they might raise 
the disaffected savages and harass us. I resolved 
to appear as daring as possible, that the enemv might 
conceive by our behavior that we were very numerous 
and thereby probably discourage them. I imme- 
diately wrote to the inhabitants in general, in- 
forming them w^here I was and what I determined 
to do, desiring the friends to the States to keep close 
to their houses, and those in the British interests to 
repair to the fort and fight for their King; other- 
wise there would be no mercy shown them, — at the 
same time sending the compliments of several of- 
ficers to some gentlemen of the town who were known 
to them, and who, it was expected, would reinforce 
me on my arrival."* The letter was then sent by the 
friendly prisoner — the one last taken — to the village, 
Clark reasoning that it would cause the lukewarm to 
be decided ; encourage his friends ; and astonish the 
enemy ; it was in these words : 

"To the Inhabitants of Vincennes: 

'Gentlemen : — Being now within two miles of your vil- 
lage with my army, determined to take your fort this night, 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 
66-688. As to there being a party of English not far above 
Vincennes, Clark had been wrongly informed. 



326 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and not being willing to surprise you, I take this step to 
request of such of you as are true citizens, and willing to 
enjoy the liberty I bring you to remain still in your houses. 
And those, if any there be, that are friends to the King, will 
instantly repair to the fort and joint the Hair-buyer General 
and fight like men. And if any such, as do not go to the 
fort shall be discovered afterwards,, they may depend on 
severe punishment. On the contrary, those that are true 
friends to liberty, may depend on being well treated. And 
I once more request they shall keep out of the streets; for 
every person I find in arms on my arrival, I shall treat as an 
enemy. 

"(Signed) "G. R. Clark."* 

The , comments of Clark upon what took place 
while he remained on "Warrior's island," as written 
in after years, were as follows : ''Our situation was 
now truly critical — no possibility of retreating in 
case of defeat — and in full view of a town that had, 
at this time, upwards of six hundred men in it — 
troops, inhabitants and Indians. The crew of the gal- 
ley [the Willing] though not fifty men, would have 
been now a reinforcement of immense magnitude to 
our little army (if I may so call it), but we would 
not think of them. We were now in the situation 
that I had labored to get ourselves in. The idea of 
being made prisoner was foreign to almost every man, 
as they expected nothing but torture from the sav- 

* This letter is given in "Bowman's Journal," in the 
Department of State MSS., as well as in the same printed in 
Clark's Campaign in the Illinois (p. 104). They differ some- 
what in the wording, but not in sense. The one to be found 
in Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 146 — 
is identical with the last mentioned. I have followed the 
one in the Department of State MSS. In Clark's Journal 
(entry of the 23d of Feb.) only the two principal points of 
the letter are mentioned, and these briefly. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 327 

ages if they fell into their hands. Our fate was now 
to be determined, probably in a few hours. We knew 
that nothing but the most daring conduct would in- 
sure success. I knew that a number of the inhabitants 
wished us well — that many were lukewarm to the 
interest of either [the Americans or British] ; and 
I also learned that the grand chief [of the Pianke- 
shams], the Tobacco's son, had, but a few days be- 
fore, openly declared in council with the British that 
he was a brother and friend to the Big Knives. These 
were favorable circumstances; and as there was but 
little probability of our remaining until dark undis- 
covered I determined to begin the career immedi- 
ately."* 

Clark now arranged his men in two divisions. In 
the first one were Captain Williams and his company, 
Captain Worthington and his company, and Captain 
Charleville with his Kaskaskia volunteer company. 
In the second division, commanded by Captain Bow- 
man, were his own company and Captain McCarty 
with the Cahokia volunteers. They were ordered by 
the Colonel to march with the greatest regularity; 
and the men were enjoined to observe the commands 
of their officers; above all things, they were to keep 
silence. The five men captured in the canoes were 
to act as guides. t 

The little army lay still until about sunset, in 
order to give time for the reception and reading of 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
145, 146. But he had been wrongly informed as to the open 
declaration of the Tobacco's son. 

t Clark's I ournal — entry of Feb. 23, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



328 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

the letter, by the Vincennes people, when, "with colors 
flying and drums braced" the march began.* 

Clark's letter had been carried into the town and 
delivered to prominent and friendly citizens.f Those 
of the inhabitants who caught sight of the Colonel's 
flags in the twilight, judged he had with him five 
hundred men.f The houses obstructed the view from 
the fort, so that the British did not observe the ap- 
proach of the Americans, and they were not notified 
of it by any one."§ As the army neared Vincennes, 
Lieutenant Bayley, with fifteen riflemen, was detached 
to attack the fort, — keep up their firing, and harass 
the enemy until the village was gained and he should 
be relieved. II 

According to Clark's subsequent statement, the 
messenger who carried his letter to the people of Vin- 
cennes was anxiously watched by the Americans until 

* "Bowman's Journal." Clark, in his letter to Mason 
says : "I dispatched the prisoner off with this letter, waiting 
until near sunset giving [to give] him time to get near the 
town before sunset, before we marched" {Clark's Campaign 
in the Illinois, p. 68. The italicising is mine). But the state- 
ment in "Bowman's Journal" is the correct one: "In order 
[to give the bearer time] to publish this letter, we lay still 
to about sundown." The words "to give time" which are 
found in the Journal as printed are not given in the same 
in the Department of State MSS. 

tThis fact is given upon the authority of a tradition, 
which, seemingly, is worthy of entire credit. 
' X Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
Clark had so manoeuvred his men that only his colors could be 
seen from the town; and as these were numerous, his force 
was judged to be much larger than it really was. (Clark to 
Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 68). 

§ Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, loc. cit. 

II Appendix, Note XCIV. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 329 

he entered the town ; and in a few minutes they could 
see with their glasses some stir in the streets, great 
numbers running or riding out into the commons to 
see the approaching army, as was supposed by the 
Colonel and his men. But what was surprising was, 
that nothing happened having the appearance of the 
garrison being alarmed ; — no drum nor gun was 
heard. "We began to suppose," are Clark's words, 
''that the information we got from our prisoners was 
false, and that the enemy already knew of us and were 
prepared." 

"A little before sunset," continues Clark, "we 
moved and displayed ourselves in full view of the 
town — crowds gazing at us. We were plunging our- 
selves into certain destruction, or success. There was 
no midway thought of. We had but little to say to 
our men, except inculcating an idea of the necessity 
of obedience. We knew they did not want encourag- 
ing, and that anything might be attempted with them 
that was possible for such a number, — perfectly cool, 
under proper subordination, pleased with the pros- 
pect before them, and much attached to their officers. 
They all declared that they were convinced that an 
implicit obedience to orders was the only thing that 
would insure success and hoped that no mercy would 
be shown the person that should violate them. Such 
language as this from soldiers to persons in our 
stations must have been [was] exceedingly agree- 
able." 

"We moved on slowly," adds Clark, "in full view 
of the town ; but, as it was a point of some conse- 
quence to us to make ourselves appear as formidable 
[as possible], we, in leaving the covert that we were 



330 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 

in, marched and counter-marched in such a manner 
that we appeared numerous. In raising volunteers in 
the Ilhnois, every person that set about the business 
had a set of colors given him, which they brought 
with them, to the amount of ten or twelve pairs. 
These were displayed to the best advantage; and as 
the low plain we marched through was not a perfect 
level, but. had frequent raisings in it seven or eight 
feet higher than the common level (which was covered 
with water), and as these raisings general run in 
an oblique direction to the town, we took advantage 
of one of them, marching through the water under 
it, which completely prevented our being numbered. 
But our colors showed considerably above the heights, 
as they were fixed on long poles procured for the 
purpose, and at a distance made no despicable appear- 
ance ; and as our young Frenchmen had, while we lay 
on the Warriors' islands, decoyed and taken several 
fowlers with their horses, officers were mounted on 
these horses, and rode about more completely to de- 
ceive the enemy. In this manner all moved, and di- 
rected our march in such a way as to suffer it to be 
dark before we had advanced more than half way to 
the town. We then suddenly altered our direction and 
crossed ponds where they could not have suspected 
us."* 

At eight o'clock, the Colonel reached the lower 
end of the town, going at once to the houses of 
Major Legras and Captain Bossoron.f He then took 
possession of the main street, putting out his guards 

"^Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
146-148. 

t Chesne's Account — Haldimand MSS. (See Appendix 
to our narrative, Note XCV.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 331 



without the least molestation,* and his long and toil- 
some march was ended. 

"The difficulties and dangers of Colonel Clark's 
march from the Illinois/' afterward wrote Hamilton, 
"were such as required great courage to encounter and 
great perseverance to overcome."t True ; but, in this 
admission, was there not more of an attempt on the 
part of the Lieutenant Governor to justify himself in 
not leaving Vincennes immediately after the surren- 
der by Helm of Fort Sackville, than to praise the 
American commander ? Be this as it may, it is certain 
the march was a remarkable achievement. Could the 
Colonel have foreseen the obstacles to be overcome, 
the undertaking, doubtless, would never have been 
resolved upon. There were perils on every side. There 
were raging floods encountered, to combat which 
seemed more like acts of reckless desperation than 
the determinations (which they were) of a cool and 
undaunted courage. Such resolution, in the face of 
almost interminable obstructions, the world has sel- 
dom witnessed.^ 

* Clark's JoMrwa/ — Haldimand MSS. 
t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
X See Appendix, Note XCV, as to B. J. Lossing's opinion 
of the difficulties encountered. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

IT was one of the strange incidents connected with 
the sudden and unexpected appearance of Clark's 
httle army around Fort Sackville on the evening 
of the twenty-third of February, that the pioneers 
inside the fortification had already obtained knowledge 
of the approach of their friends. Some of those de- 
prived of their liberty were residents of Vincennes who 
seemed to Hamilton not only indifferent and lukewarm 
in their feelings toward him, but as absolutely danger- 
ous to the cause of Britain. They had been taken in- 
side the fort and were still held in custody. One of 
these was Moses Henry, whose wife had subsequently 
been granted permission to supply her husband with 
provisions whenever she desired, from their home in 
the village. Soon after the arrival in Vincennes of the 
bearer of the Colonel's note to the inhabitants, Mrs. 
Henry visited her husband ostensibly to take him some 
supplies, but really to whisper to him the news of the 
approach of Clark, — the information having been con- 
veyed by the messenger at once to persons whom he 
met upon his reaching town, from one of whom, she 
had obtained it. Henry was not long in conveying 
the intelligence to his fellow-prisoners, "which gave 
them much pleasure, particularly Captain Helm."* 
But all this was unknown as yet to the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor. 

No sooner had Lieutenant Bayley reached a posi- 
tion within gunshot of the fort, than he opened fire 

* Clark's Memoir — Billon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 149. 
Some additional particulars not mentioned by Clark, I am 
indebted for to a well-authenticated tradition. 
(332) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 333 

upon it. "The garrison," wrote Clark to Mason, ''had 
so Httle suspicion of what was to happen that they did 
not beHeve the firing was from an enemy until a man 
was wounded through the ports (which happened the 
third or fourth shot) ; they supposing it to be some 
drunken Indians. It was now clear to Hamilton that 
an enemy was assailing his post.* In a few moments, 
Dr. McBeath, who happened to be in the house of one 
of the citizens of the town at the time and who was 
told that Clark had arrived with five hundred men, 
"pushed to get to the gate" of the fort, rushed in 
(although narrowly escaping with his life), and re- 
ported to the Lieutenant Governor the particulars as 
given to him by the woman where he had been visit- 
ing.* The astonishment of the commandant may be 
imagined. t 

"We now found," subsequently wrote Clark, "that 
the garrison had known nothing of us; that, having 
finished the fort that evening, they had amused them- 
selves at different games, and had just retired before 
my letter arrived, as it was near roll call. The placard 
being made public, many of the inhabitants were afraid 
to show themselves out of the houses for fear of giv- 
ing offense, and not^one dare give information. Our 
friends flew to the commons and other convenient 
places to view the pleasing sight. This was observed 
from the garrison and the reason asked, but a satis- 
factory excuse was given ; and as a part of the town 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
(See as to a fiction concerning Clark's appearance in Vin- 
cennes, Appendix to our narrative, Note XCVI.) 

t See, for a ridiculous tradition concerning the first firing 
at the fort, Appendix to our narrative XCVII. 



334 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST/ETC. 

lay between our line of march and the garrison, we 
could not be seen by the sentinels an the walls."* 

It was not long after Clark arrived in the village 
before he ''reconnoitered about to find a place to throw 
up an entrenchment." One was soon found, and Cap- 
tain Bowman's company set at work, — the trench to 
be thrown up across the main street, about two hundred 
yards from the fort gatef 

When Hamilton became fully assured of the pres- 
ence of an enemy and that the attack was by hostile 
riflemen, he gave orders to have the fire returned by 
his garrison. "But the enemy," he declares, "had a 
great advantage from their rifles and the cover of the 
church, houses and barns. "J 

So soon as the firing had commenced on both 
sides, Clark's two divisions united — the second join- 
ing the first. The Colonel found that V\^hat had been 
told him by his friendly prisoner before reaching the 
town concerning the presence in the village of a con- 
siderable number of Indians was true ; but Hamilton's 
dusky allies had not at any time been permitted (if, 
indeed, they had desired it) to take up their quarters 
inside the fort, but had been freely admitted within 
the pickets when councils were holden ; so, on hearing 
the firing, those who remained firm to the British cause 
easily made their escape out of town. Of these sav- 
ages were two Ottawa chiefs and "the King of the 
Hurons" — that is, the head chief of the Wyandots 
(not only of those living near Detroit but of those 
whose homes were upon the Sandusky) — the same 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 148. 
t Not "first gate" as printed in "Bowman's Journal" — 
Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 105. 

X Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 335 

chief whose Indian name was Dunqua, but who was 
known to the EngHsh as the Half King. Captain 
Chesne, the interpreter, who, ever since his arrival 
with Hamilton had lived in the village so as always to 
be near the Indians, not being able after Lieutenant 
Bailey had reached the fort and opened fire, to get in- 
side of it, fled also with the before mentioned savages. 
None of the inhabitants of Vincennes left until the next 
day, and then so far as is known, but two families. 

As might be supposed, ammunition was, at this 
juncture, scarce with the Americans, as most of the 
stores were on board the Willing. Fortunately, how- 
ever, when Hamilton undertook to have all the powder 
and ball in the town brought into the fort for the 
king's use (giving the owners bills for the same), Le- 
gras, Bosseron and others buried most of theirs, which 
they now produced, and the Colonel found himself 
well suppHed.* 

It was soon discovered by Clark that about one 
hundred Kickapoos and Piankeshaws had not fled the 
town — that, in reality, they were friends. They im- 
mediately armed themselves and offered their services 
in assailing the fort. The Colonel requested them to 
remain quiet until morning, when he would gladly ac- 
cept them as his allies. "I thanked the chief for his 
intended service," says Clark; "told him the ill conse- 
quence of our people being mingled in the dark; and 
that they might lay in their quarters until daylight. 
He approved of it, and sent off his troops, and appeared 
to be much elevated himself, staying with me and giv- 
ing me all the information he could. "f 



* Appendix, Note XCVIII. 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 



p. 69. 



336 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

So, also, in after years, Clark wrote: "The To- 
bacco's son being in town with a number of warriors, 
immediately mustered them and let us know he 
wished to join us, saying that by the morning he would 
have a hundred men. He received for answer that we 
thanked him for his friendly disposition ; and as we 
were sufficiently strong ourselves, we wished him to 
desist, and that we would counsel on the subject in the 
morning ; and as we knew there were a number of In- 
dians in and near the town that were our enemies, some 
confusion might happen if our men should mix in the 
dark ; but hoped we might be favored with his counsel 
and company during the night, — which was agreeable 
to him."* 

It was not very long after the two divisions of 
Clark's force had united before the Virginia riflemen 
effectively annoyed the enemy, parties being sent by 
Clark for that purpose, who were posted within from 
eighty to one hundred yards of the fort behind houses, 
barns, palings and ditches, — only being dislodged by 
the artillery (as Hamilton, afterward, rightfully de- 
clared) from the church and some of the nearest 
housesf was "fine sport" — this firing on the fort — 
"for the 'Sons of Liberty.' "ij: , 

It was now that the American commandant heard 
of the sending out, by Hamilton, of Captain Lamothe 
and party, about three hours before, on their reconnoit- 
ering expedition. The Captain had got some miles 
from the fort when the high waters prevented him 
pursuing Ills route farther. Upon his return, on reach- 
ing "the commons behind the town," he and his party 

* Clark's M^mozV — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 149. 
t tiamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
X Bowman's Journal of Feb. 23, 1779. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 337 

"heard, to their great surprise, a discharge of mus- 
ketry; they did not know what could be the occasion" 
of it. Meeting some men from the village, they were 
assured the "rebels" had laid close seige to the fort. 
Thereupon, they took refuge in a barn and awaited 
further news.* Meanwhile, Clark had sent out a de- 
tachment to intercept the party, — and Maisonville and 
another were captured and brought into town.f They 
were questioned as to the place of concealment of La- 
mothe and his party. Both declared their ignorance 
as to where they might be found. Maisonville was 
threatened to be hanged if he did not at once reveal 
where they were; but he still protested he did not 
know. He was then pinioned, a halter put around his 
neck, when he was led to an improvised gallows ; but 
he was saved by the town's people from death. He was 
then placed in a chair, and at Clark's order, says Ham- 
ilton, was partially scalped, when he was again saved, 
this time by "rebel" intercession. It is altogether prob- 

* Schieff elin : Loose Notes. In Hamilton's letter to 
Haldimand of July 6, 1781 (Germain MSS.), is the follow- 
ing : "They [Lamothe and his men] lost their way — night 
coming on — and were only apprised by the firing of cannon 
at the fort, that it was invested." It is also recorded in 
"Bowman's Journal" in the Department of State MSS. and 
in the one in print (Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 105), 
upon hearsay, that hearing the firing was the cause of 
Lamothe's return. But Schieffelin (in this case the better 
authority) clearly disproves this. 

t Clark, on the twenty-third, records in his Journal that 
Maisonville and one man were taken, and "Bowman's Journal" 
corroborates this. Hamilton only speaks of Maisonville being 
captured, — "having been betrayed and delivered to the rebels 
by his own cousin." (Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. 
— Germain MSS.) 

22 



338 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 

able that Maisonville and the other prisoner had, in 
the darkness, as they were returning, become separated 
from the balance of the party, and could not, therefore, 
give any information as to where their companions 
were.* 

The American commander, in a general descrip- 
tion given not long after, of affairs during the night, 
says he made the attack on the fort at seven o'clock, 
before they knew of his coming; and that he had no 
expectation of gaining it until the arrival of his artil- 
lery. The moon set at about one o'clock, and he then, 
in the darkness, had an entrenchment thrown up within 
rifle-shot of the strongest battery of the enemy, and, 
as he declares, ''poured such a shower of well-directed 
balls into their ports, that we silenced two pieces of 
cannon in fifteen minutes, without getting a man 
hurt."t 

"In a few hours," adds the Colonel concerning the 
seige, in another account, 'T found my prize sure, — I 
was certain of taking every man that I could have 
wished for, being the whole of those that incited the 
Indians to war. All my past sufferings vanished. 
Never was' a man more happy. There was wanted no 
encouragement from any officer to inflame our troops 
with a martial spirit. The knowledge of the person 
they attacked and the thoughts of their massacred 

* Appendix, Note XCIX. 

t Clark to the Governor of Virginia, April 29, 1779 — 
Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222 n. The Colonel says that 
"the town immediately surrendered with joy" — that is, they 
welcomed the Americans to the place; "and," he adds "as- 
sisted in the siege." But there was no assistance, to speak 
of, until the next morning. There was a continued fire on 
both sides," is the Colonel's farther declaration, "for eighteen 
hours." This is error, as will be presently seen. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 339 

friends were sufficient. I knew that I could not afford 
to lose men ; and I took the greatest care of them I 
possibly could ; at the same time, I encouraged them to 
be daring but prudent. Every place near the fort that 
could cover them was crowded, and a very heavy firing 
during the night was kept up. I had flung up a con- 
siderable entrenchment before the gate [of the fort] 
where I intended to plant my artillery when it arrived 
[on the Willing]:''^ 

But more circumstantial is the portrayal by Clark 
of the beginning of the siege, as made by him years 
after. "The garrison," he wrote, "was soon completely 
surrounded, and the firing continued without inter- 
mission (except about fifteen minutes a little before 
day), until about nine o'clock the following morning. 
It was kept up by the whole of the troops — joined by 
a few of the young men of the town who got permis- 
sion — except fifty men kept as a reserve. ... I 
had made myself fully acquainted with the situation of 
the fort and town, and the ports relative to each. The 
cannon of the garrison were on the upper floors of 
strong blockhouses at each angle of the fort eleven 
feet above the surface ; and the ports so badly cut that 
many of our troops lay under the fire of them within 
twenty or thirty yards of the walls. They [the garri- 
son] did no damage except to the buildings of the 
town, some of which they much shattered; and their 
musketry in the dark employed against woodsmen cov- 
ered by houses, palings, ditches and the banks of the 
river, was but of little avail against us and did us no 
injury except wounding a man or two." 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 70. 



340 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"As we could not afford to lose men," continues 
Clark, ''great care was taken to preserve them suffi- 
ciently covered, and keep up a hot fire in order to iii- 
timidate the enemy as well as to destroy them. The 
embrasures of their cannon were frequently shut, for 
our riflemen finding the true direction of them would 
pour in such vollies when they were opened that the 
men could not stand to their guns — seven or eight of 
them in a short time got cut down. Our troops would 
frequently abuse the enemy in order to aggravate them 
to open their ports and fire their cannon that they 
might have the pleasure of shooting them with their 
rifles — fifty of which, perhaps, would be leveled the 
moment a port flew open ; and I believe that if they 
had stood at their artillery, the greater part of them 
would have been destroyed in the course of the night, 
as the larger portion of our men lay within thirty yards 
of the walls, and in a few hours were covered equally 
to those within the fort, and much more experienced 
in that mode of fighting. 

"Sometimes an irregular fire as hot as possible," 
is the further language of Clark, "was kept up from 
different directions for a few minutes, and then only 
a continual scattering one at the ports as usual ; and a 
great noise and laughter immediately commenced in 
different parts of the town, by the reserved parties, as 
if they had only fired on the fort a few minutes for 
amusement, and as if those firing at the walls were only 
regularly relieved. Conduct similar to this kept the 
garrison constantly alarmed. They did not know what 
moment they might be stormed or [blown up] as they 
could plainly discover that we had flung up some en- 
trenchments across the streets and appeared to be very 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 341 

busy under the bank of the river, which was within 
thirty feet of the fort. The situation of the magazine 
we knew well. Captain Bowman began some works in 
order to blow it up in case our artillery should arrive ; 
but as we knew that we were daily liable to be over- 
powered by the numerous bands of Indians on the river 
in case they had again joined the enemy (the certainty 
of which we were acquainted with), we resolved to 
lose no time, but to get the fort in our possession as 
soon as possible. If the vessel [the Willing] did not 
arrive before the ensuing night we resolved to under- 
mine the fort, and fixed on the spot and plan of ex- 
ecuting this work, which we intended to commence 
the next day."* 

Hamilton's officers inside the fort were exposed 
to the fire of Clark's riflemen as they occupied tents 
and had ever since getting possession of the place — 
the picketing of the fortification being so poorly set 
up that one might pass the hand clinched between the 
uprights. "Though the night was dark," says Hamil- 
ton, "we had a sergeant matross and five men wounded. 
The weather was still so cold, we were obliged to 
bring the wounded into our own quarters. "f 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
149-151. But, in this relation, there is exaggeration, and 
some errors both by inference and direct statement, which 
are manifest from what has already been shown and what will 
be presently given. Clark's language I have not followed in 
all instances literally. But have preserved his meaning strictly. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
The ''sergeant matross" spoken of by Hamilton, is mentioned 
in Chesne's Account as the "master gunner." Chesne was 
told that this soldier and five others had been killed ; but 
they were, as stated by Hamilton, only wounded. 



342 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Throughout the night the inhabitants of Vincennes 
remained, most of them, in their houses, giving the 
Americans no trouble. Colonel Clark had little or no 
fear of hostility on their part. 

Lamothe and his men remained concealed in the 
barn where they had taken refuge, until daylight, 
when they made a rush for the fort and got inside 
without the loss of a man.* Clark says, in writing a 
few months afterward of their successful exploit, that 
he was convinced they would make off at daybreak if 
they could not rejoin their friends ; so, finding all en- 
deavors fruitless to take them (ending, as these efforts 
had, in the capture only of Maisonville and one other), 
he withdrew his troops a little farther from the pickets 
in order to give them an opportunity to get in. . This 
Lamothe accomplished "much to his credit," the Colo- 
nel declares, ''and my satisfaction, as I preferred the 
garrison should receive that reinforcement rather than 
he and his men should be at large among the sava- 

ges."t 

The account given by Hamilton of Lamothe's 
reaching the inside of the fort shows he had no sus- 
picion of Clark's design: "We despaired of Captain 
Lamothe's party regaining the fort ; but, to our great 
surprise and joy, about half an hour before sunrise, 
they appeared and got into the fort over the stockades 
(which were upright and eleven feet out of the ground) 
with their arms in their hands. Two Canadians of his 
company had deserted the preceding night."t 

* Schieffelin's Loose Notes — Magazine of American His- 
tory, vol. I, p. 187. 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
71. Compare "Bowman's Journal" under date of Feb. 23d. 

X Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
Hamilton, in the same letter, speaks of Lamothe and his men 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 343 

In after years, in recording his recollections of the 
events connected with the successful endeavor of La- 
mothe to get inside the fort, Clark says : ''As almost 
the whole of the persons who were most active in the 
Department of the Detroit were either in the fort or 
with Captain Lamothe, I got extremely uneasy for fear 
that he would not fall into our power, — knowing that 
he would go off, if he could not get into the fort in the 
course of the night. Finding that, without some un- 
foreseen accident, the fort must inevitably be ours, and 
that a reinforcement of twenty men, although consid- 
erable to them, would not be of great moment to us in 
the present situation of affairs, and knowing we had 
weakened them by killing or wounding many of their 
gunners, after some deliberation we concluded to risk 
the reinforcement in preference of his going again 
among the Indians ; the garrison had at least a month's 
provisioning, and if they could hold out, in the course 
of that time he might do us much damage [outside the 
fortification]." 

"A little before day," adds Clark, "the troops 
were withdrawn from their positions about the fort, 
except a few parties of observation, and the firing to- 
tally ceased. Orders were given in case of Lamothe's 
approach, not to alarm or fire on him, without a cer- 
tainty of killing or taking the whole. In less than a 

"returning to the village, and finding it impossible to make 
their way good [into the fort], they concealed themselves in 
a barn, sending from time to time, one of their number to 
explore and make report, but as they employed Canadians, 
none of them returned." Now, it is evident, that none were 
sent "to explore and make report ;" and that Maisonville and 
his companion were the "two Canadians," that he speaks of 
(though erroneously) as having deserted. 



344 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

quarter of an hour he passed within ten feet of an 
officer and a party that lay concealed. Ladders were 
flung over to them [by the garrison], and as they 
mounted them our party shouted. Many of them fell 
from the top of the walls — some within and others 
back; but, as they were not fired on, they all got over, 
much to the joy of their friends. But, on considering 
the matter, they must have been convinced that it was 
a scheme of ours to let them in, and that we were so 
strong as to care little about them or of the manner 
of their getting into the garrison.""^ 

Captain Chesne and the three chiefs who had so 
unceremoniously fled on Clark's arrival secreted them- 
selves in a wood about a mile and a half out of the 
town, where they heard ''a smart firing all night, and 
now and then, a great gun from the fort." About 
eleven o'clock, they attempted to enter the village, 
''but not finding it practicable, they returned again to 
the wood; and, in the morning, they were joined by 
Petit Ores, chief of the Miamis, and three of his peo- 
ple. "f Chesne, so soon as he had fully satisfied him- 
self of the true state of affairs started for Detroit to 
bear the news to Captain Lermoult. That he made 
quick time on his return is not to be doubted. f 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
151, 152. But, when he says the Americans knew that their 
firing "had weakened them [the enemy] by killing or wound- 
ing many of their gunners," Clark was drawing, certainly, on 
his imagination. And, as to the garrison "having, on consider- 
ing the matter," "been convinced that it was a scheme" of the 
Americans "to let them in," it is only necessary to refer to 
Hamilton's letter to Haldimand of July 6, 1781 (Germain 
MSS.), to refute the idea. 

t Chesne's Account having been verbally given to Captain 
Lernoult of course is not dated; but from a letter the latter 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 345 

Immediately after the return of Lamothe and his 
party, Hamilton perceiving the works thrown up by 
Clark, began to play his small arms very briskly but 
could not bring his cannon to bear on them; so the 
firing from the fort was but slack after sunrise.* 

About sixty of the inhabitants of Vincennes now 
joined the Colonel's force,f behaving, in general, ex- 
ceedingly well. The Wabash Indians were also per- 
mitted, at this juncture, to assist the Americans.^ 

After Lamothe's return, ''the firing," says Clark, 
"immediately commenced on both sides with double 
vigor; and I believe that more noise could not have 
been made by the same number of men — their shouts 
could not be heard for the firearms ; but a continual 
blaze was kept around the garrison, without much 
being done, until about daybreak [sunrise], when our 
troops were drawn off to posts prepared for them, 
about sixty or seventy yards from the fort. . . To 
have stood to their cannon would have destroyed their 
men without a probability of doing much service. Our 
situation was nearly similar. It would have been im- 
prudent in either party to have wasted their men, with- 
out some decisive stroke required it. Thus the attack 

wrote to Col. Bolton we can readily see that the escaped 
Frenchman did not tarry on his way back. 

* Clark's Journal — Haldimand MSS. Hamilton to Hald- 
imand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

t Schieffelin : Loose Notes. Hamilton to Haldimand, 
July 6, 1781. — Haldimand MSS. Clark to Mason — C/ar^'.y 
Campaign in the Illinois, p. 71. 

X This is to be inferred from what subsequently took 
place, as given in detail by Clark to Mason. All contemporary 
accounts are silent as to the aid given Clark by these Indians. 



346 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

continued until about nine o'clock on the morning of 
the twenty-fourth.*" 

Clark some time before eight o'clock in the fore- 
noon had received from the inhabitants of Vincennes 
such a description of the prisoners lately brought into 
the fort from the Ohio river by Maisonville as in- 
duced him to believe they were an express from Wil- 
liamsburg on their way to Kaskaskia with papers and 
letters to him from Governor Henry, of Virginia, (but 
in this he was mistaken as he afterward discovered) ; 
so, at the hour just named, he ordered the firing to 
cease, intending to send a flag to Hamilton demanding 
a surrender, at the same time to give him to under- 
stand that, if he destroyed any papers or letters taken 
from prisoners, or injured the houses of the inhabit- 
ants with his artillery, punishment of the severest kind 
might be expected in the event the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor should be captured.f 

The determination of the American commander 
was now carried out. He at once wrote to Hamilton : 
"Sir : — In order to save yourself from the impending 
storm that now threatens you, I order you immediately to 
surrender yourself up, with all your garrison, stores, etc., 
etc. ; for, if I am obliged to storm, you may depend on such 
treatment [as is] justly due to a murderer. Beware of de- 
stroying stores of any kind, or any papers or letters that are 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 152. 

t Both Clark and Hamilton declare the firing ceased at 
eight o'clock (Clark's Journal, Feb. 24, 1779 — Haldimand 
MSS. ; also, his letter to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the 
Illinois, p. 71 ; and Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781 — 
Germain MSS.) : now, as it began about seven o'clock the 
previous evening, it could not have been continuous for eigh- 
teen hours, as stated by the Colonel in his letter of April 29, 
1779. to the Governor of Virginia. "Bowman's Journal" says, 
by inference, that the firing ceased about nine o'clock. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 347 

in your possession, or hurting one house in the town; for, 
by Heavens, if you do, there shall be no mercy shown you. 
"(Signed) ' "G. R. Clark."* 

This letter was then sent to the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor. 

Clark's subsequent recollection of the incident 
agrees with his statement made a short time after the 
event occurred : "Learning that the two prisoners they 
had brought in the day before had a considerable num- 
ber of letters with them, I supposed it an express that 
we expected about this time, which I knew to be of the 
greatest moment to us as we had not received one since 
our arrival in the country; and not being fully ac- 
quainted with the character of our enemy, we were 
doubtful that those papers might be destroyed, — to 
prevent which I sent a flag [with the letter] demand- 
ing the garrison."f 

The troops of Clark's command took advantage 
of the occasion to provide themselves with breakfast, — 
"it being the only meal of victuals since the eight- 
eenth.J" 

"About eight o'clock," are the words of Hamil- 
ton, "a flag of truce from the rebels appeared, carried 
by Nicolas Cardinal, a captain of the militia of Vin- 
cennes, who delivered me a letter from Colonel Clark 
requiring me to surrender at discretion, adding, with 

* "Bowman's Journal" in the Department of State MSS. 
As printed in Clark's Campaign in the Illinois (pp. 105, 106), 
the words "or hurting one house in the town," are omitted. 
But in printing the letter, Dillon, in his History of Indiana, 
pp. 152, 153, gives them. They are likewise retained in Clark's 
lournal, in the Haldimand MSS., where he speaks of the 
letter. 

t Clark's Memoir— Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 152. 

X "Bowman's Journal" of the 24th of Feb. 



348 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

an oath, that if I destroyed any stores or papers, I 
should be treated as a murderer. Having assembled 
the officers, and read them this letter, I told them my 
intention was to undergo any extremity rather than 
trust to the direction of such sort of people as we had 
to deal with. They all approved of the resolution, on 
which I assembled the men and informed them of our 
determination. The English assured me they would 
defend the King's colors to the last, adding an homely 
but hearty phrase that they would stick to me as the 
shirt to my back. They then gave three cheers. The 
French, on the contrary, hung their heads."* 

Thereupon the Lieutenant Governor answered the 
Colonel's letter, sending (on a card) a most manly and 
soldierly reply in these words : "Governor Hamilton 
begs leave to acquaint Col. Clark that he and his gar- 
rison are not disposed to be awed into an action un- 
worthy a British subject. "f 

"I then ordered out parties to attack the fort," 
says the American commander, "and the firing began 
very smartly on both sides.":]: "One of my men," are 
the Colonel's words in his record of the day, "through 
a bravery only known but to Americans, walking care- 
lessly up the main street, was slightly wounded over 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

t "Bowman's Journal." See, also, Clark to Mason — 
Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 71 ; Hamilton to Haldi- 
mand, July 6, 1781 — Germain MSS.. Clark's Journal, under 
date of Feb. 24, 1779, in Haldimand MSS. ; also, Schieffelin's 
Loose Notes. 

t Clark's Journal, Feb. 24, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 
"Bowman's Journal" same date. Clark to Mason — Clark's 
Campaign in the Illinois, p. 71. Hamilton to Haldimand, July 
6, 1781 — Germain MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 349 

the left eye, but in no wise dangerous."* Subsequent 
to this Clark wrote : 

"The firing then commenced warmly [and contin- 
ued so] for a considerable time ; and we were obliged 
to be careful in preventing our men from exposing 
themselves too much, as they were now much ani- 
mated, having been refreshed during the flag. They 
frequently mentioned their wishes to storm the place 
and put an end to the business at once. . . The 
firing was heavy through every crack that could be 
discovered in any part of the fort."t 

"Lamothe's volunteers,", says the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor, ruefull}^ "now began to murmur, saying it was 
very hard to be obliged to fight against their country- 
men and relatives, who they now perceived had joined 
the Americans. They made half our number, and after 
such a declaration were not to be trusted. The Eng- 
lishmen wounded (six in number) were a sixth of 
those we could depend on, and duty would every hour 
fall heavier on the remaining few. Considering we 
were at the distance of six hundred miles from succor, 
that if we did not burn the village we left the enemy 
a most advantageous cover against us ; and that if we 
did, we had nothing to expect after rejecting the first 
terms but the extremity of revenge, I took up the de- 
termination of accepting honorable terms if they could 
be procured ; else, to abide the worst." 

* Clark's Journal, Feb. 24, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 
"Bowman's Journal" speaks of the man being wounded; but 
the words there given carry the idea that it happened soon 
after daylight and of course before the Colonel sent his flag 
to Hamikon. I have followed Clark's account, however, be- 
cause his explanation makes it the more probable. 

t Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 153. 



350 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"I stated," adds the Lieutenant Governor, "these 
considerations to the officers first, who allowed them to 
be reasonable, then to the men, who very reluctantly 
admitted them. And here I must declare that if the 
defense of the fort had depended on the spirit and 
courage of the English only, the rebels would have 
lost their labor."* 

It was now nearly mid-day, and of a sudden the 
firing from the fort was suspended. It had continued 
for about two hours. The Colonel was determined to 
listen to no terms whatever until he was in possession 
of the fort — keeping only a part of his troops in 
action while the residue were making necessary prep- 
arations for an assault, in which the inhabitants of the 
town were willing to assist, but they were not called 
upon by Clark. f Immediately following the suspen- 
sion of firing by Hamilton was the appearance of a 
flag of truce sent by him. J 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
Besides the six Englishmen wounded there, was one other 
("Bowman's Journal," Department of State MSS.) — prob- 
ably one of the volunteers (French). "Bowman's Journal" 
in the Department of State MSS., has this record after men- 
tioning the capture of Maisonville: "Smart firing all night 
on both sides. The cannon played smartly. Not one of our 
men wounded. Seven men in the fort badly wounded." But 
the account as printed — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
105 — leaves out much of this. It says : "The cannon played 
smartly. Not one of our men wounded. Men in the fort 
badly wounded." 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 71. 

X The declaration in "Bowman's Journal" (see Department 
of State MSS., also Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 106) 
that "several of the men in the fort [being] wounded through 
the port-holes . . . caused [Lieutenant] Governor Hamil- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 351 

"About twelve o'clock the firing from the fort 
suspended," says Clark, "and I perceived a flag com- 
ing out. I ordered my people to stop firing. . . I 
soon saw it was Captain Helm.""^ 

"After salutations," continued Clark, "[Captain 
Helm] informed me that the purport of his commis- 
sion was, that Lieutenant Governor Hamilton was will- 
ing to surrender up the fort and garrison, provided 
Colonel Clark would grant him honorable terms; and 
that he begged the American Commander to come into 
the fort and confer with him." "First, I desired," 
continues Clark, "Captain Helm not to give any in- 
telligence of Lieutenant Governor Hamilton's strength, 
he (Helm) being on his parole; second, my answer to 
Hamilton was that I should not agree to any terms but 
that he should immediately surrender at discretion. I 
allowed him half an hour to consider of this. As 
to my entering the fort, my officers and men would not 
allow it, for it was with difficulty I restrained them 
from storming the garrison. I dismissed Captain Helm 
with my answer."f 

When the time allowed by Clark was up, Captain 
Helm came back with Hamilton's second proposals, 
which were as follows : 

"Lieutenant Governor Hamilton proposes to Col- 
onel Clark a truce for three days, during which time 

ton to send out a flag," does not seem warranted by the facts ; 
— certainly it is not correct according to Hamilton's statement. 

* Clark's Journal — entry of Feb. 24th, 1779. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. The Colonel nowhere else mentions the £rst 
appearance of Captain Helm except incidentally. Hamilton 
does not refer to it directly or indirectly in his letter to 
Haldimand of July 6, 1781. 

t Clark's Journal — entry of Feb. 24, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



352 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

he promises there shall be no defensive works carried 
on in the garrison, on condition Colonel Clark shall 
observe on his part a like cessation of any offensive 
work; that he wishes to confer with Colonel Clark as 
soon as can be; and further proposes that whatever 
may pass between them two and any other person mu- 
tually agreed upon to be present, shall remain a secret 
till matters be finally concluded, as he wishes whatever 
the result of their conference may be [it may tend] to 
the honor and credit of each party. If Colonel Clark 
makes a difficulty of coming into the fort Lieutenant 
Governor Hamilton will speak to him before the 
gate."t 

"I was," are the subsequent words of Clark, "at 
a great loss to conceive what reason Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor Hamilton could have for wishing a truce of three 
days on such terms as he proposed. Numbers said it 
was a scheme to get me into their possession. I had 
a diflferent opinion and no idea of his possessing such 
sentiments, as an act of that kind would infallibly ruin 
him. Although we had the greatest reason to expect a 
reinforcement [from the Willing] in less than three 
days that would at once put an end to the siege, I yet 
did not think it prudent to agree to the proposals. "J 

t "Bowman's Journal" in the Department of State MSS. 
(See Appendix to our narrative, Note C.) 

I Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
153, 154. 



CHAPTER XX. 

BEFORE a reply to Hamilton's second message 
was prepared, to be taken back by Captain 
Helm, an incident occurred tragic in its results. 
"This moment," wrote Clark at the time, "I received 
intelligence that a party of Indians was coming up 
from the Falls [of the Ohio] with prisoners or scalps. 
They had been sent out by Lieutenant Governor Ham- 
ilton for that purpose." *'My people," he adds, "were 
so enraged that they immediately intercepted them."* 
They consisted of eight Indians under the lead of 
two Frenchmen of the fort garrison. Three Indians 
were killed on the spot and four brought in — one 
only making his escape. The two white men were 
also captured. The savages who were made prisoners 
were tomahawked in the street opposite the fort gate 
and then thrown into the river. The two Frenchmen 
were dressed in Indian style, but were seen to be white 
men ; and Clark ordered them also to be put to death. 
One had a father present whose name was St. Croix, 
who was a lieutenant in Captain McCarty's company. 
He recognized his son's voice ; and the parent's earnest 
solicitations saved him. The other was rescued by his 
sister, "whose husband was a merchant" in Vincennes. 
There were but two prisoners brought in by the war 
party on its return and these fortunately escaped death. 
They were Frenchmen and had been hunting on the 
Ohio. They were, of course, quickly released.f 

* Clark's Journal — Haldimand MSS. The Colonel, in 
speaking of the "Falls," refers to the Falls of the Ohio. "My 
people" means, of course, his soldiers. 

t Appendix, Note CI. 

23 (363) 



354 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Colonel Clark now sent in his reply by Captain 
Helm to the commander of Fort Sackville : 

"Colonel Clark's compliments to Mr. Hamilton, and begs 
leave to inform him that Col. Clark will not agree to any 
other terms than that of Mr. Hamilton's surrendering himself 
and garrison prisoners at discretion. 

"If Mr. Hamilton is desirous of a conference with Col. 
Clark, he will meet him at the church with Captain Helm. 

"Feb'y. 24th, 1779. "G. R. Clark. 

"L't. Gov'r. Henry Hamilton."* 

Clark immediately repaired to the church to confer 
with Hamilton, where he met him and Captain Helm.f 
''Governor Hamilton then begged that I would consider 
the situation of both parties," says the American com- 
mander; "that he was willing to surrender the gar- 
rison, but was in hopes that Colonel Clark would let 
him do it with honor." "I answered him that I had 
been informed that he had eight hundred men; — 'I 
have not that number, but I came to fight as many.^ 
Governor Hamilton then replied: 'Who could have 
given you this false information?' 'I am, sir,' replied 
I, 'well acquainted with your strength and force and 
am able to take your fort; therefore I will give you 

* "Bowman's Journal" — Department of State MSS. The 
same Journal, printed in Clark's Campaign in the Illinois,. 
p. 107, leaves out the word "leave" after "begs," substitutes 
"he" for "Col. Clark," and has only the initials "G. R. C." 
signed at the bottom. Clark in his Journal (Haldimandi 
MSS.) and in his letter to Mason {Clark's Campaign in the 
Illinois, p. 72) gives the substance of his reply only. 

t Clark's J ournal — entry of Feb. 24, 1779 — Haldimand 
MSS. Consult, also, Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. 
of 1859), p. 154. Except in the two places just cited Captain 
Helm's name is nowhere mentioned as accompanying Hamil- 
ton on this his first interview with the American commander, 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 355 

no other terms but to submit yourself and garrison 
to my discretion and mercy." 

The rejoinder of Hamilton was that his men were 
brave and willing to stand by him to the last; ''and 
if," he declared, ''I cannot surrender on honorable 
terms, I will fight it out to the last." The answer to 
this, by Clark was, that it would give his men infinite 
satisfaction and pleasure to fight ; it was their desire. 
The Lieutenant Governor then left the Colonel "and 
went a few paces aloof." 

Clark thus continues his account of the interview : 
"I told Captain Helm — 'Sir, you are a prisoner on 
your parole; I desire you to re-conduct Lieutenant 
Hamilton into the fort and there remain until I retake 
you.' Hamilton then returned, saying — 'Colonel 
Clark, why will you force me to dishonor myself, when 
you cannot acquire more honor by -it ?' I told him — 
'Could I look on you as a gentleman, I would do to 
the utmost of my power [to favor you] ; but, on you, 
sir, who has embued your hands in the blood of our 
women and children, — honor, my country, everything, 
calls on me aloud for vengeance. Governor Hamil- 
ton : 'I know, sir, my character has been stained, 
but not deservedly; for I have always endeavored to 
instill humanity, as much as in my power, [into the 
minds of] the Indians whom the orders of my super- 
iors obliged me to employ.' Colonel Clark: 'Sir, 
speak no more on this subject; my blood glows within 
my veins to think of the cruelties your Indian parties 
have committed; therefore, repair to your fort and 
prepare for battle' ; on which I turned away ; and the 
Lieutenant Governor and Captain Helm went towards 
the fort. The latter then said — 'Gentlemen, pray dq 



356 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

not be warm ; strive to save many lives which m_ay be 
useful to their country, which must unavoidably be 
sacrificed in case you do not agree' : on which, we 
again conferred."* 

It is the declaration of the Colonel subsequently 
made that the British commander "received such treat- 
ment, at this conference, as a man of his known bar- 
barity deserved." "I would not come upon terms with 
him ; and I recommended to him to defend himself 
with spirit and bravery; that it was the only thing 
that would induce me to treat him and his garrison 
with lenity, in case I stormed the fort, which he might 
expect. He asked me what more I could require than 
the offers he had already made. I told him (which 
was really the truth) that I wanted a sufficient excuse 
to put all the Indians and partisans to death, as the 
greatest part of these villians was then with him. Al\ 
his propositions were refused. He asked me if noth- 
ing would do but fighting. I knew of nothing else."t 

Hamilton's account of the conference is a studied 
attempt to excuse himself to his Commander-in-chief 
for the misfortune which, it may be premised, soon 
overtook him: ''He [Clark] told me that it was in 
vain to think of persisting in the defense of the fort; 
that his cannon would be up in a few hours; that he 

* Clark's Journal — entry of Feb. 24. This is the only 
account written at the time, so far as known, detailing the 
conversation between Clark and Hamilton. There were other 
"talks," as will be presently shown. The one just given is 
.so connected in the Colonel's Journal with other matters that 
it there seems (though erroneously) to have been not only 
the -first but the only conversation held by them. 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 72. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 357 

knew to a man who might be depended upon with every 
other circumstance of my situation; that if, from a 
spirit of obstinacy I persisted when there was no prob- 
abihty of rehef and should stand an assault, not a 
single soul should be spared. I replied that, though my 
numbers were smah, I could depend on them. He said 
he knew I had but thirty-five or thirty-six staunch 
men; that it was but folly to think of defense with 
so small numbers so overmatched ; that if I would sur- 
render at discretion and trust to his generosity, I should 
receive better treatment than if I articled for terms. 
My ansv^^er was, that I would then abide by the conse- 
quences and never take so disgraceful a step, while 
I had am^munition and provisions. 

" 'You will be answerable,' he said, 'for the lives 
lost by your obstinacy." I said my men had declared 
they would die with arms in their hands rather than 
surrender at discretion; that still I would accept such 
terms as might consort with my honor and duty." 

The suggestion of Hamilton that Clark might pre- 
sent articles of capitulation for his consideration was 
met, says the Lieutenant Governor, by his remarking 
that "he would think upon it and return in half an 
hour."* Thereupon they separated, — the British 
comm.ander returning to the fort and the American 
going to his head quarters. This ended the first 
conference. 

At the appointed time Clark returned with Captain 
Bowman, and Hamilton, with Major Hay, went to 
meet them. "The soldiers," says the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor, "in the mean time, apprehensive of some ill de- 
sign, manned the east blockhouse ready to fire at an 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



358 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

instant. The conversation was resumed, and Colonel 
Clark appeared as determined as before. "I then said 
further discourse was vain ; that I would return to the 
fort, and, to prevent mistakes, the firing should not take 
place for an hour after our parting. [I] took my 
leave, and was proceeding to the fort, when Major 
Hay and Captain Bowman called me back. The sub- 
ject was renewed."* 

Hamilton then begged Clark to stay until he could 
return to the garrison and consult his officers. "Being 
indifferent about him," says the Colonel, "and wanting 
a fevv^ moments for my troops to refresh themselves, 
I told him that the firing should not commence until 
such an hour; that during that time he was at liberty 
to pass with safety."t 

Hamilton and Clark again met.J The former then 
produced a series of articles of capitulation for the 
consideration of the American commander: 

"Article 1st. Lieutenant Governor Hamilton engages to 
deliver up to Col. Clark, Fort Sackville as it is at present 
with all the stores, ammunition and provision, reserving only 
thirty-six rounds of powder and ball per man, and as many 
weeks' provisions as shall be sufficient to conduct those of 
the garrison, who shall go by land or water to their des- 
tination. 

"2d. The garrison are to deliver themselves as prisoners 
of war and to march out with their arms, accoutrements and 

* Id. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note GIL) 
t Glark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 
72, 73. 

X Id., p. 74. That this was the third meeting and at 
the church, is evident. "Governor Hamilton," says Clark in 
his letter to Gov. Henry of April 29, 1779, {Jefferson's Works) 
vol. I, p. 222n), "and myself had on the following day (Feb. 
24), several conferences." [The italicising is mine]. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 359 



knapsacks, — a guide or guides to be given with a safe- 
guard to escort the garrison to their destination, as also horses 
for the transport of provisions, provided the garrison marches 
by land. 

"3d. The garrison [is] not to be delivered up until the 
person employed by Col. Clark shall receive an account of the 
stores, etc. 

"4th. Three days' time from the signing of the articles 
[is] to be allowed the garrison to provide shoes, etc., neces- 
sary for the journey (if by land) and for baking bread, as 
also for settling the accounts with the traders of this post. 

"5th. Officers or others of the garrison who have fami- 
lies [are] to be allowed to return to their homes on promise 
of not acting during the present contest between Great Britain 
and America. 

"6th. The sick and wounded are recommended to the 
humanity and generosity of Col. Clark; any charge incurred 
by them to be discharged by Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, 
who will leave a draft for 50£ New York currency, for 
their use. 

"7th. Officers [are] to take their private baggage." 

"Signed at Fort Sackville, Feb'y- 24, 1779. 

"H. Hamilton.^^* 

These articles were promptly refused by Clark.f 

* These articles, although printed in several of the Eastern 
papers in 1779, are not heretofore to be found in any work 
on Western history. The substance of them (except the 
first, which is not mentioned) is given in Hamilton's letter 
to Haldimand of July 6, 1781. But he then erroneously gives 
them as his first propositions sent out to Colonel Clark. 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
74. In "Bowman's Journal" of Feb. 24, 1779, the words 
are : "Governor Hamilton produced certain articles of capitu- 
lation, which were refused," — showing they were not sent 
by Hamilton but presented in person. Upon this point, the 
Lieutenant Governor, in his letter to Haldimand of July 6, 
1781, gets confused — evidently his recollection is at fault ; 
for he says that then the Colonel agreed to his sending terms 



360 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The American commander records that "Hamilton 
then said — Is there nothing to be done but fighting?' 
'Yes, sir,' I rephed, 'I will send you such articles as I 
think proper to allow; if you accept them, well. I 
will give you half an hour to consider them' : on which, 
Captain Helm came with me to take them when drawn 
up, to the Lieutenant Governor."* And Hamilton 
returned to the fort. 

Having assembled his officers. Colonel Clark con- 
ferred with them and it was finally determined to 
send to Hamilton (''it was about the close of the 
evening") articles, by which the latter engaged to 
surrender to the former. Fort Sackville, as it then 
was, with all its stores, ammunition, provisions, etc., 
etc. ; the garrison to deliver themselves up as prisoners 
of war, and march out with their arms, accoutrements, 
knapsacks, etc., at ten o'clock next day; three days 
to be allowed them to settle their accounts with the 
inhabitants and traders of Vincennes ; and the officers 
to be allowed their necessary baggage, etc. 

These articles were taken inside the fort by Captain 
Helm for Hamilton's consideration. "I agreed to 
them," says the Lieutenant Governor, "having first 
called the officers together and explained to them the 

for his (Clark's) consideration, and that they were sent the 
same evening. 

* Clark's Journal — entry of Feb. 24, 1779 — Haldimand 
MSS. But the Colonel, in his record of that day, connects 
these words immediately with the first conversation, thereby 
leaving it to be inferred that there was but one conference. 
This is error as already shown. "Bowman's Journal" has the 
following, after mentioning the fact that Hamilton's articles 
of capitulation were refused : "The Colonel told him he would 
consult with his officers and let him know the terms he would 
capitulate on [meaning, the terms he would grant him]." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 361 

necessity of the step. The men were then assembled, 
and were convinced that no advantage to his Majesty's 
service could result from our holding out in our present 
circumstances." 

Within the time limited, Captain Helm returned 
with the articles signed by the Lieutenant Governor, 
with these words written above his signature : "Agreed 
to, for the following reasons: the remoteness from 
succors; the state and quantity of provisions ; unani- 
mity of officers and men on its expediency; the hon- 
orable terms allowed and, lastly, the confidence in a 
generous enemy."* 

Among the reasons not mentioned by the British 
commander in giving his assent to these articles (if 
we are to believe what he afterward asserted) were 
the treachery of one half the little garrison, the cer- 
tainty of the inhabitants of the village having joined 
the rebels, the northeast angle of the fort projecting 
over a sand bank already considerably undermined, 
the miserable state of the wounded men, and the im- 
possibility of effecting our escape by water. f Hamil- 
ton, at the same time, attempts to apologize for the 
use of the words — "the confidence in a generous 

* Clark's Journal — entry of Feb. 24. "Bowman's Jour- 
nal" — entry of the same date ; but there is a difference in 
the wording of the articles (though the meaning is essentially 
the same) in the printed Journal from the MSS. copy. Clark 
to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 75. Hamilton 
to Haldimand, July 6, 1781 — Germain MSS. No two of these 
are the same, word for word. I have followed Clark's Journal, 
as near as may be, in the text; but, for an exact copy of the 
Articles, see Appendix to our narrative, Note CIII. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS'. 
(See Appendix to our narrative, Note CIV.) 



362 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

enemy" : "If it be considered that we were to leave 
our wounded men at the mercy of a man who had 
shown such instances of ferocity as Colonel Clark had 
lately, a compliment bespeaking his generosity and 
humanity may possibly find excuse with some as I 
know it has censure from others." 

After having given the necessary orders for the 
surrender of the fort on the morrow according to the 
terms of the capitulation agreed upon, the Lieutenant 
Governor ''passed the night in sorting papers and in 
preparing for the disagreeable ceremony of the next 
day. Mortification, disappointment and indignation 
had their turns." 

''The business being now nearly at an end," says 
Clark in an after-recollection of the matter, "troops 
were posted in several strong houses around the garri- 
son and patroled during the night to prevent any 
deception that might be attempted. The remainder 
on duty lay on their arms and for the first time for^ 
many days past got-some rest."* 

About ten o'clock of the following morning (the 
twenty-fifth), Captain Bowman and Captain McCarty's 
companies paraded on each side of the gate of the 
fort.f Hamilton and his men then marched out, "with 
fixed bayonets," as he declares, "and the soldiers with 
their knapsacks, — the colors had not been hoisted 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
156, 157. 

t "Bowman's Journal" says the two companies were 
"paraded on 07te side of the fort gate [the italicising is mine] ;" 
but this is error as shown by Chesne, who says (in his Ac- 
count) they were "drawn up on each side of the fort gate" 
(the word "each" being italicised by myself). 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 363 

. . , that we might be spared the mortification of 
hauling them down;"* and the whole force of the 
garrison, seventy-nine in number, was surrendered to 
the two Captains just mentioned as prisoners of war.f 
Considerable stores also fell into the hands of the 
victors. "Besides the provisions, clothing and stores 
belonging to the king," says the Lieutenant Governor, 
"all the private baggage of the officers fell into the 
possession of Colonel Clark."$ 

"It had been told Colonel Clark," is the declaration 
of Hamilton, "that we had labored all night to lay 
powder-chests under the gateway, and had planted the 
six-pounder loaded with grape, which, by a train, 
was to destroy the rebels as they entered to take 
possession. This report may reasonably be imputed 
to the invention of the French inhabitants, since they 
had the effrontery to give Colonel Clark a written 
account of cruelties exercised by us . . . which 
our own American prisoners confuted in their ac- 
counts to the CoJonel."§ 

Colonel Clark, with Captain Williams and Cap- 
tain Worthington's companies, now marched inside 
the fortification, relieved the sentries, hoisted the Amer- 
ican colors, and secured all the arms. The Lieutenant 
Governor then marched back to the fort and shut the 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

t Clark to Gov. Henry, April 29, 1779. — Jefferson's 
Works, vol. I, p. 222 n. "Bowman's Journal." Butler's Ken- 
tucky, pp. 86, 87. Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 157. 
(See Appendix to our narrative, Note CXVI.) 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
The value of the stores "belonging to the King" is nowhere 
estimated by Hamilton or Clark in any of their statements. 

§ Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



364 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

gate. Thirteen guns were attempted to be fired, one 
for each of the thirteen states, ''during which time 
there happened a very unlucky accident through mis- 
management" after the ninth discharge. There blew 
up twenty-six six-pound cartridges in one of the 
batteries, which much hurt Captain Bowman, Captain 
Worthington, and four privates.* 

And now Fort Sackville was again in possession of 
Americans, and its name changed to 'Tort Patrick 
Henry." Hamilton attributed his failure, "chiefly, if 
not entirely" to the treachery of the persons whom, he 
declares afterward to his Commander-in-chief, he "had 
reason to expect lenity and moderation would have 
gained and whose interest it was to be faithful." He 
refers, of course, to the inhabitants of Vincennes. 
While giving Clark credit for a due amount of cour- 
age and perseverance in marching against Fort Sack- 
ville, he declares it is not for him to determine whether 
the Colonel was entitled to success or not in its capture. 
"In trusting to traitors," says the Lieutenant Governor, 
"he was more fortunate than myself." As to the Cana- 
dians who went from Detroit upon the expedition, he 
declares there was but little choice among them. The 
arts of some rebel emissaries and the intrigues of per- 
sons still attached to the interests of France, got the 
better of the good intentions they might have set out 
with. "If my conduct," he says, in writing the Com- 
mander-in-chief, "appears to your Excellency in a jus- 
tified light, I may hope to be more pitied than blamed ; 

* "Bowman's Journal" — Department of State MSS. 
Compare same in Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 108. 
Chesne says (in his Account) he was told there were but nine 
guns heard. (See further as to this mishap, Appendix to our 
narrative, Note CV.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 365 

at least, your approbation will enable me to support 
the weight of that censure which seldom fails to 
accompany an unsuccessful enterprise,"'^ 

In one thing, at least, Hamilton got the better of 
Clark; — he conducted the conferences had with the 
Colonel with consummate skill, making use of Captain 
Helm (who, naturally, could not relish the idea of 
being inside the fort, even though an American and 
well known to the assailants, when assaulted by Vir- 
ginia riflemen) very effectively as a go-between. By 
yielding as it were, point by point only after strong 
efforts to maintain each, and by a firm declaration often 
repeated to die rather than surrender at discretion, 
he finally succeeded in almost forcing from the Amer- 
ican commander honorable terms of capitulation. This 
was strateg}^ of a high order. It was, almost from 
the firing of the first gun, evidently the only hope 
of the Lieutenant Governor to obtain from his assail- 
ant some terms which should prevent an indiscriminate 
slaughter of his men when the fort should be taken; 
and in this he was successful. 

The spirit and assurance manifested by Clark in 
marching openly into Vincennes was, of course, the 
result of his having learned that the inhabitants were 
friendly. He believed he could not be deceived, and 
he was not. His bravery in assailing the fort was 
due, at first, largely to the circumstance that his ar- 
tillery was hourly expected and he would secure mean- 
while advantageous situations for planting his guns.f 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
t Appendix, Note CVI. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE sending by Hamilton, on the last day of 
January, of Commissary Adhemar St. Mar- 
tin, with ten boats and thirty of the inhabi- 
tants of Vincennes, to Fort Miami — head of the Mau- 
mee — for provisions and stores which had been for- 
warded from Detroit, had already been made known to 
Clark ; and he lost no time in fitting out an expedition 
to capture the whole, before news could reach Adhe- 
mar of the surrender of Hamilton. 

On the day after the occupation of the fort by the 
Americans, the Colonel ordered Captain Helm, Moses 
Henry, Major Legras and Captain Bosseron with fifty 
men of the Vincennes militia (Legras and Bosseron 
having assumed the command of which they had been 
deprived by Hamilton) to proceed up the Wabash with 
three boats, each armed with a swivel, to intercept the 
convoy.* "Knowing," says Clark, "that Governor 
Hamilton had sent a party of men up the Wabash to 
Orne [Fort Miami] for stores that he had left there, 
which must be on their return, I waited about twelve 
hours for the arrival of the galley [the Willing] to in- 
tercept them ; but fearing their getting intelligence, 1 
dispatched Captain Helm with a party in armed boats 
[to capture them]."t This was on the twenty-sixth 
of February. 

* "Bowman's Journal" — Department of State MSS. ; but 
in the same when printed (Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 108), Capt. Bosseron's name is omitted. 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
75. But the Colonel was in error in stating the stores had 
(366) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 367 

Meanwhile, St. Martin, with thirty-eight men, 
(eight having taken passage for their homes), had 
left Fort Miami, crossed the carrying-place, and was 
floating down the Wabash, not only with his provi- 
sions and stores, but with Depean, who, upon his ar- 
rival at Miami, had obtained leave of the commandant 
to proceed on his journey, taking with him a number 
of letters from Detroit which had been entrusted to- 
him. Little did the party imagine, as the seven boats 
were urged down the river, the reception which 
awaited them. 

Captain Helm returned to Vincennes on the fifth 
of March. He had been successful. At Wea, he met 
the British convoy and made a prize of the whole, 
taking forty prisoners and about ten thousand pounds 
sterling worth of goods and provisions without firing 
a gun ; also the mail froni Canada to Governor Ham- 
ilton, containing, however, no news of importance. 
Hamilton subsequently declared that Dejean had not 
sufiicient presence of mind to destroy the papers, 
which, with everything else, were seized by the rebels. 

The return of the Captain caused much rejoicing, 
not only because of the large amount of stores secured, 
but because of the capture of ''Grand Judge" Dejean 
and Commissary St. Martin. Such of the prisoners 
as were inhabitants of Vincennes were at once set at 
liberty. 

Of the "spoils" secured, Clark divided as gifts 
among his men a considerable amount of such things 
as were thought suitable for them, only retaining for 
himself and his officers a small quantity of needed 

been left at Fort Miami by Hamilton. His words to Gov. 
Henry of April 29, 1779, are nearer the truth: "Hearing of 
a convoy of goods from Detroit," etc. 



368 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

clothing. There was set aside for a specific purpose 
what was judged to be of the value of eight^^hundred 
pounds sterling, in addition to the foregoing.* -"j^ 

On the same day that Helm reported his success 
to Colonel Clark, the latter discharged a number of the 
Illinois volunteers, consisting of the whole of Cap- 
tain Charleville's company and a part of Captain Mc- 
Carty's. Cheerfully, of course, they started for their 
homes. Meanwhile, it seems, Clark had sent men 
down the Wabash to bring up to Vincennes, the horses 
whicli had been left below the mouth of the Embar- 
rass on the march out.f 

Hamilton, not many hours .after he became a pris- 
oner, if we may credit his account, feared he had 
placed himself in the power of a tyrant. "The even- 
ing of the day we capitulated," he subsequently as- 
sured General Haldimand-, "Colonel Clark ordered 
neck-irons, fetters and hand-cuf¥s to be made, which, 
in our hearing, he declared were designed for those of- 
ficers who had been employed as partisans with the In- 
dians. I took him aside and reminded him that these 
prisoners were prisoners of war included in the capit- 
ulation which he had so lately set his hand to. He 
said his resolution was formed ; that he had made a 

* "Bowman's Journal." Clark to the Governor of Vir- 
ginia, April 29, 1779 — Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222 n. 
Jefferson to Captain Lernoult, July 22, 1779 — Calendar of 
Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 321. Clark to Mason, Nov. 
19, 1779 — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 75. Hamilton 
to Haldimand, July 6, 1781 — Haldimand MSS. Butler's 
Kentucky, p. 87. Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 
1859), pp. 157, 158. Appendix to our narrative, Note CVH. 

t Such is the inference from a letter written by Clark to 
Gov. Henry, March 9, 1779, to be found in the Haldimand 
MSS. [See Appendix, Note CXXV(l)]. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 369 

vow never to spare man, woman or child of the In- 
dians or those who were employed with them." 

''I observed to him," continued the Lieutenant- 
Governor, ''that these persons having obeyed my or- 
ders were not to be blamed for the execution of them ; 
that I had never known that they had acted contrary 
to those orders, by encouraging the cruelty of the sav- 
ages; and that, if he was determined to pass by the 
consideration of his faith and that of the public, 
pledged for the performance of the articles of capit- 
ulation, I desired he might throw me into prison, or 
lay me in irons, rather than the others. He smiled 
contemptuously, turned away, and ordered three of 
these persons to the guard till the irons should be 
made."* 

But the British commander had other causes of 
complaint. "The scalps of the slaughtered Indians 
were hung up by our tents," he- indignantly declared to 
his Commander-in-Chief; ''and a young man of the 
name of Ramboult was brought into the fort with a 
halter about his neck ; and only for the interposition of 
the volunteers from the Illinois (some of whom were 
his relations) he would infallibly have been hanged 
without any crime laid to his charge but his having 
been with a scouting party. He was half strangled 
before he was taken from the tree."* 

Hamilton fails to explain what was implied by the 
culprit being out "with a scouting party;" fails to 
make known that it meant the killing of men, women 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
(.See Appendix to our narrative, Note CVIII.) 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781, — Germain MSS. 

24 



370 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and children indiscriminately at their homes in the 
Kentucky settlements. 

''Besides the provision, clothing and stores be- 
longing to the King, all the private baggage of the 
officers fell into the possession of Colonel Clark," is 
the lugubrious assertion of Hamilton, . . . ''Col- 
onel Clark being arbiter of that article of the capitula- 
tion by which the officers were to take their necessary 
baggage."* But private baggage was one thing; 
necessary baggage, qufte another. 

However much the Lieutenant-Governor may 
have deprecated the conduct of Clark toward his 
(Hamilton's) savage allies, he had really no cause of 
complaint after his surrender, because of bad treat- 
ment of himself or his officers from the Colonel, who, 
it is evident, did not carry out his scheme of ironing 
such as were partisans. On the first day of March, all 
were given the freedorh of the town on their, signing 
a parole not to go beyond its limits. f The one signed 
by Hamilton (and those by the other officers were of 
like tenor) was in these words : 

* Id. What Lieut. Schieffelin also wrote concerning the 
failure of Clark to carry out the stipulation of the surrender 
relative to the "necessary baggage'' of the officers, was this : 
"The rebel officers plundered the British of their baggage, 
etc., contrary to the faith pledged by them, by virtue of 
which they yielded their arms." {Loose Notes — Magazine 
of American History, vol. I, p. 187. But, it is clear, that the 
right to determine what was "necessary baggage" was one 
of the prerogatives of Clark. 

t Schieffelin : Loose Notes. "Bowman's Journal" under 
date of March 1. A copy of Hay's parole is in the Haldimand 
MSS. ; that of Schieffelin is printed in his Loose Notes. But 
the letter gives the impression that they were paroled the 
next morning after the surrender, which is error. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 371 

"ViNCENNES, March 1, 1779. 

"This certifies that I have given my parole of honor to 
Col. George Rogers Clark, commanding the American forces 
here, that I will not attempt to make mj^ escape from this 
place, nor will I by word or action, behave unbecoming a 
prisoner at large; neither will I in any manner convey intel- 
ligence to the subjects of his Britannic Majesty in arms 
against the States of America. 

"In witness wherof, I hereunto sign my name without 
compulsion. ..^^^^^ Hamilton. 

"Lieu. Gov. and Superintendent." 

But Hamilton, as a prisoner, was ill at ease. 
"Our soldiers" are his subsequent words, "told us that 
some of the rebels had solemnly sworn to destroy 
Major Hay and myself the first opportunity. As we 
could not guard against any attempt in the situation 
we then found ourselves, we thought it best to appear 
unacquainted with any such resolution, but we were 
twice in the night obliged to fly for security to Col- 
onel Clark's quarters in the fort, — two men that were 
intoxicated and whose names had been given us at- 
tempting to shoot us in our tent. The attempt was 
proven, but no punishment ensued. f 

Soon after his surrender, the British commander 
had been informed by Clark that he and his officers 
and perhaps others of the prisoners were to be sent 
east over the mountains to Williamsburg. When this 
would happen the Colonel wisely declined to give any 
one a hint. "We were kept in the dark," says the 
Lieutenant-Governor, "as to the day of our departure, 
although I had repeatedly asked it that we might have 
bread baked and other necessary preparations made."* 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Grmain MSS. 
(See Appendix to our narrative, Note CIX.) 

* Hamikon to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



872 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

On the seventh, Captain Wilhams and Lieutenant 
Rogers, with twenty-five men, set off for the Falls of 
the Ohio, with Hamilton, Dejean, Lieutenant Schief- 
felin. Dr. McBeath, Francis Maisonville, Mr. Belle- 
fluille, Major Hay, Captain Lamothe, Adhemar St. 
Martin, and eighteen other prisoners (who had made 
themselves especially obnoxious by going out with 
Indian war parties) to be sent to Williamsburg, — to 
which place Lieutenant Rogers had orders to guard 
them from the Falls. f 

The prisoners were ''under guard of 'two armed 
boats" and furnished with ten days' rations of pork 
and flour to last them until their arrival "at the Falls 
fort, on the Ohio (400 miles) to row against a strong 
current. "J Fourteen gallons of spirits were sent 
along for the prisoners and their guard. § 

Before starting, the Lieutenant-Governor and 
Major Hay, by consent of Colonel Clark, wrote each 
to Captain Lernoult at Detroit, asking him to allow a 
Mr. Cournailler, who proposed to go to that place on 
his private affairs, to return to Vincennes.|| 

The tenth, in the afternoon," says the Lieutenant- 
Governor, "we reached the Ohio, whose waters were 
out in an uncommon and astonishing degree. The 

t "Bowman's Journal" in the Department of State MSS., 
where several of their names are misspelled and Adhemar 
St. Martin's is omitted. The spelling in the same in Clark's 
Campaign in the Illinois, p. 109, is yet wider of the mark; 
and there also St. Martin's name is not mentioned. (See 
Appendix to our narrative, Note CX.) 

X Schieffelin : Loose Notes. 

§ Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

II Hamilton to Lernoult and Major Hay to same. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. Hamilton's letter, although written on the 7th of 
March, is dated the 8th. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 373 

depth above the banks [was] eighteen feet, with such 
a swift current as made it very fatiguing to row, which 
we all did in turn, while our guard was distributed in 
four light boats. At night, we were obhged to lie in 
our boat, making it fast to a tree; for the flood ex- 
tended as far in the woods as the eye could reach. 
We made a miserable shift with our mast and oars to 
throw a cover overhead to keep out the rain, and lay 
like swine, closely jammed together, having not room 
to extend ourselves." 

''We presently found the discipline of our guards 
such," continues the Lieutenant-Governor, ''as would 
have enabled us to seize their arms and escape to the 
Natches ; this was agitated among us, but the idea 
was given up on the persuasion that our companions 
left in the hands of the rebels at Vincennes would be 
sufferers for it. We fell in with four Delaware In- 
dians who were hunting, having only their bows and 
arrows. Our escort obliged them to accompany us 
part of the way, but they disappeared one day ; and we 
were given to understand they were quietly knocked 
on the head."'^ 

The Falls of the Ohio was reached on the thir- 
tieth when the prisoners were "marched to the Falls 
fort, commanded by Captain [William] Harrod. Lit- 
tle or no refreshments were to be had."t This is not 
surprising. The emigrants, as well as the original 
settlers upon the island, who had moved to the main- 
land, and had located around the fort found it diffi- 
cult to supply themselves with necessaries. Their 

* Hamikon to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

tSchieffelin: Loose Notes. The Lieutenant gives the 
day of arrival at the Falls fort as the 31st; but Hamilton 
says it was the 30th. I have followed the Lieutenant Governor. 



374 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

new settlement which had taken the name of ''White 
Home," clustered around the fortification.* 

Hamilton found at the Falls, as he remarks, with 
much truthfulness, "a number of settlers who live in 
log houses, in eternal apprehensions from the In- 
dians ;"t — "the cause of all which anxiety," he could, 
with truth, have added, "was, because I chose to obey 
the behests of my superiors, however barbarous, rather 
than resign my office ; and because I had shut my eyes 
to the awful scenes of destruction and death which I 
knew were constantly occurring in the Kentucky set- 
tlements from these savage visitations." 

The news that Fort Sackville had fallen into the 
hands of the British on the seventeenth of December, 
had only reached the Falls the day before the arrival 
there of the prisoners,^ so vigilant had been the parties 
sent out from Vincennes by Hamilton ; and great, of 
course, was the astonishment of the borderers to find 
by ocular demonstration, that the Fort had already 
been re-taken, and that before them was a number of 
the enemy who had surrendered to the heroic Clark 
and his gallant Americans. 

From the "Falls fort," the Lieutenant-Governor 
and his fellow prisoners were marched through the 
woods on foot, under a heavy guard, with their nec- 
essaries and provisions about one hundred milts, to 
Harrodstown, which they reached on the eighth of 
April. The post there they found comimanded by Col- 
onel John Bowman, county-lieutenant of Kentucky 

* R. T. Diirrett, in the Louisville C ourier-J ournal, August 
2, 1883. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
J Id. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 375 

county, 'Svho treated them as well as his abilities 
would admit." There they remained ten days when 
they again started, "depending," says one of the pris- 
oners, ''on Providence for provisions" and ''insulted 
by every dirty fellow as they passed through the coun- 
try;* "In our long march," afterward declared the 
Lieutenant-Governor, "we had frequently hunger and 
thirst to encounter as well as fatigue/'f 

According to Hamilton, Colonel Clark had prom- 
ised to send fifteen horses to the Falls for his (Ham- 
ilton's) use and those of the other officers, on their 
march thence; but that promise, he declares, "never 
was performed." "He had apprized us," are the Lieu- 
tenant-Governor's words, "that there was but little 
chance of escaping with our lives, the people on the 
frontiers were so exasperated by the inroads of the 
Indians ; and, in this, we found he had told us the 
truth, being often threatened upon the march and way- 
laid at different places. Our guard, however, be- 
haved very well, protected us and hunted for us, else 
we must have starved, for our rations were long since 
expended, and our allowance of bear's flesh and In- 
dian meal was frequently very scanty." 

"The people at the forts," Hamilton added, "were 
in a wretched state, obliged to enclose their cattle 
every night within the pickets, and carry their rifles to 
the field when they went to plow of cut wood."| Why 
these particulars should have been related by the 
Lieutenant-Governor afterward, to his superior officer 
can only be accounted for on the presumption that he 

* Schiefifelin : Loose Notes. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

J Id. 



376 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

delighted in recounting them and in the remembrance 
that he, of all others, had most promoted such wretch- 
edness and distress to the "rebels" — men, women 
and children. 

As the prisoners and their guard passed out of 
Kentucky, the Lieutenant-Governor, who, for over 
three years had governed Detroit and its dependencies 
always in a turbulent manner (and sometimes des- 
potically), was forced from the West, in a bad plight. 
His capture, wherever it had become known in the 
American frontier settlement, was hailed with delight ; 
for the backwoodsmen all knew who it was that fitted 
out many war-parties of savages carrying destruction 
and death to the distracted border. 

Without any suspicions of the stirring events 
which had in the previous month transpired at Vin- 
cennes, — without any knowledge of Clark's march 
and the capture of Hamilton — without any informa- 
tion of the latter being then on his way to the Vir- 
ginia capital a prisoner of war, — Governor Henry, 
on the sixteenth of March, wrote Washington, that 
Virginia militia had full possession of the Illinois and 
the post (Vincennes) on the Wabash; that he was not 
without hopes the same militia might overawe the In- 
dians as far as Detroit; that these troops were inde- 
pendent of General Mcintosh whose numbers al- 
though upward of two thousand, he thought could not 
make any great progress on account, as he had heard, 
of the route they took and the lateness of the season ; 
that the conquest of the Illinois and Wabash towns 
was effected with less than two hundred men, who 
would soon be reinforced; and that then these mili- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 377 

tiamen, he hoped, by holding posts on the back of the 
Indians, might intimidate them.* 

On the eighteenth of May, the Governor of Vir- 
ginia, having received information of the capture of 
Hamilton, announced it to the House : 

"I have enclosed a letter for the perusal of the 
Assembly, from Colonel Clark, at the Illinois. This 
letter, among other things, informs me of an expedi- 
tion which he had planned and was determined to ex- 
ecute, in order to recover Fort Vincennes, which had 
been formerly taken from the British troops and gar- 
risoned by those under the Colonel's command. This 
enterprise has succeeded to our utmost wishes; for 
the garrison commanded by Henry Hamilton, Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of Detroit, and consisting of British 
regulars and a number of volunteers^ were made pris- 
oners of war. Colonel Clark has sent the Governor, 
with several officers and privates under guard, who 
have by this time arrived at New London, in the 
county of Bedford. Proper measures will be adopted 
by the Executive, for their confinement and se- 

curity."t 

"At length," says Hamilton, "we gained the set- 
tled country, and at Lynch's ferry, on James river, 
were put into canoes and continued our progress by 
water." On the twentieth of May, being on shore to 

~ * Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. Ill, p. 230. 
t Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, pp. 315, 316 ; 
Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. Ill, pp. 240, 241. The letter 
mentioned by Gov. Henry as having been received from Clark 
was the one dated at Kaskaskia Feb. 3, 1779. He of course 
only got from that letter the Colonel's determination to go 
against Vincennes. The residue of the information he ob- 
tained, doubtless, from some person or persons who had 
come on with the prisoners. 



378 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

get refreshments, the Lieutenant-Governor was agree- 
ably surprised to find himself at Brigadier Hamilton's 
quarters, "who endeavored," the Lieutenant-Governor 
affirms, "by his kindness and hospitality to make 
us forget our hardships." "The same evening," he 
states further, "halting at the house of a rebel, Col- 
onel Lewis, we had the good fortune to see two officers 
of the Convention army. Captain Freeman, aid-de- 
camp to General Reidezel was so obliging as to be the 
bearer of a letter from me to General [William] Phil- 
lips." He also sent one to General Haldimand, con- 
taining the capitulation and some returns. On the 
twenty-sixth, the prisoners were marched by a "rebel" 
captain with a small force, from Beaver Dam to Rich- 
mond ; thence^ they were taken to Chesterfield Court 
House, being "kept to its limits under a strong 
guard."* 

By the middle of June, the Virginia Council had 
determined to put Hamilton, Dejean and Lamothe in 
irons, and confine them in the dungeons of the public 
jail, — to be "debarred the use of pen, ink and paper, 
and excluded all converse, except with their keeper." 

"The Board proceeded to the consideration of the 
letters of Colonel Clark, and other papers relative to 
Henry Hamilton, Esq., who has acted for some years 
past as Lieutenant-Governor of the settlement at and 
about Detroit, and commandant of the British garri- 
son there, under Sir Guy Carleton, as Governor-in- 
chief ; PhiHp Dejean, justice of the peace for Detroit, 
and William Lamothe, captain of volunteers, — pris- 
oners of war taken in the county of Illinois." 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
Schieff elin : Loose Notes — Magazine of American History, 
vol. I, p. 188. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note CXI.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 379 

"They find," says the Board, "that Governor 
Hamilton has executed the task of inciting Indians to 
perpetrate their accustomed cruehies on the citizens of 
the United States without distinction of age, sex or ■ 
condition, with an eagerness and avidity which evince, 
that the general nature of his charge harmonized 
with his particular disposition. They should have 
been satisfied from the other testimony adduced, that 
these enormities were committed by savages acting 
under his commission ; but the number of the procla- 
mations which, at different times, were left in houses, 
the inhabitants of which were killed or carried away 
by the Indians, one of which proclamations is in pos- 
session of the Board, under the hand and seal of 
Governor Hamilton, puts this fact beyond a doubt." 

"At the time of his captivity," continues the 
Council, "it appears he had sent considerable bodies of 
Indians against the frontier settlements of these states, 
and had actually appointed a great council of Indians 
to meet him at [the mouth of the] Tennessee, to con- 
cert the operations of this present campaign. They 
find that his treatment of our citizens and soldiers, 
taken and carried within the limits of his command has 
been cruel and inhuman; that in the case of John 
Dodge, a citizen of these States, which has been par- 
ticularly stated to this Board, he loaded him with 
irons threw him into a dungeon, without bedding, 
without straw, without fire, in the dead of winter and 
severe climate of Detroit; that, in the state, he wasted 
him with incessant expectations of death; that when 
the rigors of his situation had brought him so low that 
death seemed likely to withdraw him from their power^ 
he was taken out and somewhat attended to, until a 



380 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

little mended; and before he had recovered ability to 
walk, was again returned to his dungeon, in which a 
hole was cut seven inches square only, for the admis- 
sion of air, and the same load of irons again put on 
him; that appearing, a second time in imminent dan- 
ger of being lost to them, he was again taken from 
his dungeon in which he had lain from Janu- 
ary till June, with the intermission of a few weeks 
only, before mentioned; that Governor Hamilton gave 
standing rewards for scalps, but offered none for pris- 
oners, which induced the Indians, after making their 
captives carry their baggage into the neighborhood of 
the fort [Detroit], there to put them to death, and 
carry in their scalps to the Governor, who welcomed 
their return and success by a discharge of cannon; 
that when a prisoner, brought alive, and destined to 
death by the Indians, the fire already kindled, and him- 
self bound to the stake, was dexterously withdrawn, 
and secreted from them by the humanity of a fellow 
prisoner, a large reward was offered for the discovery 
of the victim, which having tempted a servant to be- 
tray his concealment, the present prisoner, Dejean, be- 
ing sent with a party of soldiers, surrounded the 
house, took and threw into jail the unhappy victim and 
his deliverer, where the former soon expired under the 
perpetual assurances of Dejean, that he was to be 
again restored into the hands of the savages, and the 
latter, when enlarged, was bitterly reprimanded by 
Governor Hamilton." 

"It appears to them," the Council adds, "that the 
prisoner, Dejean, was on all occasions, the wilhng and 
cordial instrument of Governor Hamilton, — acting 
both as judge and keeper of the jails, and instigating 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 381 

and urging him, by malicious insinuations and un- 
truths, to increase, rather than relax his severities, 
hightening the cruelty of his orders by the manner oi 
executing them ; offering, at one time, a reward to one 
man [a prisoner] to be the hangman of another, 
threatening his life on refusal ; and taking from his 
prisoners the little property their opportunities en- 
abled them to acquire." 

"It appears that the prisoner, Lamothe," says the 
Council further, "was a captain of the volunteer scalp- 
ing parties of Indians and whites, who went, from time 
to time, under general orders to spare neither men, 
women, nor children." Then, to begin their summing 
up, the Council say : 

"From this detail of circumstances which arose in 
a few cases only, coming accidentally to the knowl- 
edge of the Board, they think themselves authorized 
by fair deduction to presume what would be the hor- 
rid history of the sufferings of the many who have ex- 
pired under their miseries (which, therefore, will re- 
main forever untold), or who have escaped from them 
and are yet too remote and too much dispersed to 
bring together their well-founded accusations against 
these prisoners." 

"They [the Council] have seen that the conduct 
of the British officers, civil and military, has in the 
whole course of this war been savage, and unprece- 
dented among civilized nations ; that our officers taken 
by them, have been confined in crowded jails, loath- 
some dungeons and prison ships, loaded with irons, 
supplied often with no food, generally with too little 
for the sustenance of nature and that little sometimes 
unsound and unwholesome, whereby such numbers 



382 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

have perished, that captivity and death have with them 
been almost synonymous; that they have been trans- 
ported beyond seas, where their fate is out of the 
reach of our inquiry, have been compelled to take arms 
against their country, and by a refinement in cruelty, 
to become murderers of their own brethren. 

'Their prisoners with us have, on the other hand, 
been treated with humanity and moderation ; they have 
been fed on all occasions, with wholesome and plenti- 
ful food, suffered to go at large within extensive tracts 
of country, treated with liberal hospitality, permitted 
to live in the families of our citizens, to labor for them- 
selves, to acquire and enjoy profits, and finally to par- 
ticipate of the principal benefits of society, privileged 
from all burdens. 

"Reviewing- this contrast, which cannot be denied 
by our enemies themselves, in a single point, and 
which has now been kept up during four years of un- 
remitting war, a term long enough to produce well- 
founded despair that our moderation may ever lead 
them to the practice of humanity; called on by that 
justice we owe to those who are fighting the battles of 
our country, to deal out, at length, miseries to their 
enemies, measure for measure, and to distress the feel- 
ings of mankind by exhibiting to them spectacles of 
severe retaliation, where we had long and vainly en- 
deavored to introduce an emulation in kindness ; hap- 
pily possessed, by the fortune of war, of some of those 
very individuals who, having distinguished themselves 
personally in this line of cruel conduct, are fit subjects 
to begin on, with the work of retaliation ; this Board 
has resolved to advise the Governor that the said 
Henry Hamilton, Philip Dejean and William La- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 383 

mothe, prisoners of war, be put in irons, confined in 
the dungeon of the pubHc jail, debarred the use of pen, 
ink and paper, and excluded all converse except with 
their keeper."* 

It is evident that a considerable part of the find- 
ing by the Council against Hamilton and Dejean was 
predicated upon what had been "particularly stated" 
to the Board by Dodge.f The latter, after a great 
deal of ill treatment in Detroit by Hamilton as he 
claimed, had been taken a prisoner to Quebec. He 
subsequently escaped, reaching Boston in safety. 
From that place, he made his way finally to Pitts- 
burgh.f 

The prisoners remained in Chesterfield until the 
fifteenth of June. On that day, an officer having a 
written order under the hand of the Governor of the 
State — Thomas Jefferson — for taking the Lieuten- 
ant-Governor in irons to Williamsburg, reached the 
former place. 'T was accordingly handcuffed," says 
Hamilton, "put upon a horse, and my servant not be- 
ing suffered to go with me, my valise was fastened 
behind me. Captain Lamothe was ordered to accom- 
pany me, being in like manner handcuffed." 

"The fatigues of the march," continues the Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, "having heated my blood to a violent 
degree, I had several large boils on my legs. My 

* These proceedings of the Virginia Council were pub- 
lished the next day (June 16, 1779), in the Virginia Gazette. 
They are to be found, also, in Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 
226 n, and in other publications. 

t Compare in this connection Andrew McFarland Davis's 
article, "The Indians and the Border Warfare of the Revolu- 
tion," in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, 
vol. VI, p. 683. 

t Appendix to our narrative. Notes IV and CXII. 



384 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

handcuffs were too tight, but were eased at a smith's 
shop on the road. Thus sometimes riding and some- 
times walking, we arrived the second evening at Wil- 
Hamsburgh, having come sixty miles. We were con- 
ducted to the palace, where we remained about half an 
hour in the street at the Governor's door, in wet 
clothes, weary, hungry and thirsty, but had not even a 
cup of water offered us. During this time, a consid- 
erable mob gathered about us, which accompanied us 
to jail. On our arrival there, we were put into a cell, 
not ten feet square, where we found five criminals and 
Mr. Dejean, wlio was also handcuffed. This poor 
man could not refrain from tears on seeing our equip- 
ment. We had the floor for a bed; the five felons 
were as happy as rum could make them; and so we 
were left to our repose for that night."* 

And thus Lieutenant Schieff elin : 

"June 15th. An American officer came to them 
[the prisoners] from Wilhamsburg with orders to lay 
Governor Hamilton in irons, with Capt. Lamothe, 
which piece of cruelty was performed before his of- 
ficers, who shed tears of indignation that their worthy 
Chief should be so treated. They were marched on 
foot, handcuffed, through rain, their wrists much hurt 
from the chafing of the irons; they would not allow 
him his waiting-boy. They were marched, in great 
pomp, through Williamsburg city, and committed to 
the dungeon with felons, murderers, and condemned 
criminals ; not so much as a blanket allowed them."t 

The Virginia Council having given Jefferson, 
who, since the first day of June had been Governor of 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
"f Loose Notes, already cited. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 385 

the State, their advice to lay the three prisoners in 
i-rons, an order was issued in accordance therewith. 
"The next day [after their arrival in Williamsburg, 
which was on the sixteenth] we three," says Hamil- 
ton, "were taken out about ii o'clock, and, before a 
number of people, our handcuffs were taken off and 
fetters put on in exchange. I was honored with the 
largest, which weighed eighteen pounds eight ounces. 
As I thought opportunities might not offer frequently, 
and seeing some of the delegates [members of the Vir- 
ginia Assembly] present, I took occasion, while my 
irons were riveting to speak a few words. I told them 
that the ignominious manner in which we were 
treated, without any proof of criminality, or any hear- 
ing, without even a crime being laid to our charge, was 
a reproach to those only who could act in that man- 
ner to prisoners of war, under the sanction of a ca- 
pitulation; that after a proceeding so unjust, I was 
prepared for any extremity, but desired the persons 
present to observe that punishment was exercised on 
us before any inquiry had taken place or before any 
persons who might have accused us had been con- 
fronted with us; — some by their jestures appeared to 
feel for us, but no one uttered a word, and when our 
fetters were properly fixed, we were remanded to our 
dungeon, from which the five felons were removed."* 
The indignant Schieffelin says : "Their [the 
prisoners'] handcuffs were knocked off; and heavy 
chains put on their legs before great numbers of peo- 
ple. Mr. Dejean, justice of peace for Detroit, was 
also put in irons for reasons of State retaliation. "f 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July Q, 178L — Germain MSS. 

'\ Loose Notes, before cited, 

25 



386 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

A friend, on the fifth of July, dispatched to 
Dodge, at Pittsburgh (where the latter had remained 
since his arrival from the East after escaping from 
Quebec), a letter, inclosing the proceedings of the Vir- 
ginia Council as to Hamilton, Lamothe and Dejean, — 
that, for some time, they had been loaded with irons. 
This friend was one Andrew Robinson. He wrote that 
he had previously been called on by the Virginia Coun- 
cil to give evidence as to Dodge's character, "which I 
gave," says the writer, "to your advantage." Robin- 
son also wrote that he was "engaged to secrecy, as the 
Governor and Council were jealous that he [Hamil- 
ton] might, if acquainted with their intention of retal- 
iation, endeavor to escape." He gave information 
that the Lieutenant-Governor was "loaded with heavy 
irons," but that he was very severe in his denuncia- 
tions of Dodge, and that numbers -were drawn to con- 
dole with him and cry out against his accuser.* He 
adds : "I have gone some lengths to justify you and 
assure all of them [members of the Council] that you 
will appear and confront Mr. Hamilton, as he and 
Dejean both wish to be face to face." Robinson in- 
formed Dodge also that he (Dodge) had a letter ot the 
Governor, for his going to Williamsburg, and he 
hoped he would go without delay. "I wish to see you 
and give you the letter; but I desire you not to wait 
for it."* 

Dodge at once resolved to make a trip from Pitts- 
burgh to the Virginia capital ; — he would go imme- 
diately — still be delayed starting. He found an op- 
portunity to send a letter to a friend of his — a trader 
— at Sandusky. "It is," said he, "with pleasure that 

"~ ^ Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 387 

I inform you that I have made my escape from Que- 
bec. I have the honor of wearing a captain's com- 
mission, and have the managing of Indian affairs. 
You may depend on seeing me this fall with a good 
army." "I am going to Williamsburg in a few days," 
he added, ''to prosecute Hamilton, and that rascal, De- 
jean; [also] Lamothe; likewise . . . [Major 
Hay]. They will be all hanged without redemption 
and the Lord have mercy on their souls. My compli- 
ments to all the good Whigs of Detroit — money 
plenty — fine times for the sons of liberty! I am 
just now drinking your health with a good glass of 
madeira. God bless you all. We will soon relieve 
you from those tyrants !"* 

A printed copy of the order of the Virginia Coun- 
cil in regard to Hamilton, Dejean and Lamothe was 
transmitted to Washington on the 23d of June. 

The British General, William Phillips, soon pro- 
tested to Jefferson against the treatment administered 
to the Lieutenant-Governor of Detroit. He wrote 
him a lengthy and temperate letter, to the effect that 
the putting in irons and confinement of Hamilton 
could not be justified, upon military principles, even 
if the charges against him were true. Had he been 
captured, or had he surrendered at discretion. Gen- 
eral Phillips acknowledged that he would have been 
at the mercy of his enemies ; "but since he had capitu- 
lated upon honorable terms, which were signed in the 
usual form by both parties, he could not be made ac- 
countable for alleged previous misdemeanors, with- 

* Dodge to Philip Boyle, July 13, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. It was not at Pittsburgh that Dodge was to have "the 
managing of Indian affairs," but in the Illinois. 



388 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

out the violation of a compact which had always been 
considered sacred by civilized nations."* 

On the seventeenth of July, Jefferson wrote 
Washington concerning the subject of General Phil- 
lips' letter. "I some time ago inclosed to you," said 
the Governor, "a printed copy of an order of Council, 
by which- Governor Hamilton was to be confined in 
irons and in close jail. This has occasioned a letter 
from General Phillips, of v/hich the inclosed is a copy. 
The General seems to suppose that a prisoner on ca- 
pitulation cannot be put into close confinement, 
though his capitulation shall not have provided against 
it. My idea was that all persons taken in war were to 
be deemed prisoners of war ; that those who surren- 
dered on capitulation (or Convention) are prisoners 
of war also, subject to the same treatment with those 
who surrender at discretion, except only so far as the 
terms of their capitulation or Convention shall have 
guarded them. In the capitulation of Governor Ham- 
ilton (a copy of which I inclose), no stipulation is 
made as to the treatment of himself or those taken 
with him. The Governor, indeed, when he signs adds 
a flourish of reasons inducing him to capitulate, one of 
which is the generosity of his enemy. Generosity, on 
a large and comprehensive scale, seems to dictate the 
making a signal example of this gentleman ; but waiv- 
ing that, these are only the private motives inducing 
him to surrender, and do not enter into the contract of 
Colonel Clark." 

Jefferson added that he had "the highest idea of 
the sacredness of those contracts which take place be- 

* Jared Sparks. See the Writings of George Washington 
(Worthingtoii Chauncey Ford's edition, 1890), vol. VIII, p, 
5, note. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 389 

tween nation and nation at war," and that he ''would 
be among the last on earth who should do anything ni 
violation of them." He could find nothing in those 
books usually recurred to as testimonials of the laws 
and usages of nature and nations which convicted the 
opinions he had expressed, of error; yet there might 
be such an usage as General Phillips seemed to sup- 
pose, though not taken notice of by these writers. 

Jefferson's particular object in writing Washing- 
ton was to get from him information upon the point 
made by General Phillips. He declared to the Com- 
mander-in-chief that there was no other person whose 
decision would so authoritatively decide the doubt in 
the public mind, and none w4th which he was disposed 
so to comply. "If you shall be of the opinion," said 
he, ''that the bare existence of a capitulation in the 
case of Governor Hamilton, privileges him from con- 
finement, though there be no article to that effect in 
the capitulation, justice shall most assuredly be done 
him.""^ 

When the confinement in the Williamsburg jail, 
of Hamilton, Lamothe and Dejean became known to 
Captain Lernoult, at Detroit, he addressed a letter, to 
the Executive of Virginia, asking the reasons for this 
treatment and remonstrating against it. This on the 
twenty-second of July, was answered by Governor 
Jefferson : 

"I think you, sir, who have had as good opportu- 
nities as any British officer, of learning in what man- 
ner we treat those whom the fortune of war has put 
into our hands, can clear us from the charge of rigors, 
as far as your knowledge or information has extended. 

* Jefferson's Works. 



390 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

I can assert that Governor Hamilton's is the first in- 
stance which has occurred in my own country ; and if 
there has been another in any of the United States it 
is unknown to me. These instances must have been 
extremely rare, if they have existed' at all, as they 
could not have been altogether unheard of by me. 

"When a uniform exercise of kindness to prison- 
ers on our part has been returned by as uniform sever- 
ity on the part of our enemies, you must excuse me for 
saying it is high time, by other lessons, to teach re- 
spect to the dictates of humanity. In such a case, re- 
taliation becomes an act of benevolence." 

"But suppose, sir," continues Jefferson, "we are 
willing still longer to decline the drudgery of general 
retaliation, yet Governor Hamilton's conduct has been 
such as to call for exemplary punishment on him per- 
sonally. In saying this, I have not so much his par- 
ticular cruelties to our citizens, prisoners with him 
(which, although they have been great, were of nece- 
sity confined to a small scale), as the general nature 
of the service he undertook at Detroit, and the exten- 
sive exercise of cruelties which that involved. Those 
who act together in war are answerable to each other. 
"I will not say to what length the fair rules of war 
would extend the right of punishment against him; 
but I am sure that confinement under its strictest cir- 
cumstances as a retaliation for Indian devastation and 
massacre, must be deemed lenity." . . . 

"The proclamation alluded to [by the Council]," 
says the Virginia Governor, further, "contained noth- 
ing more than an invitation to our officers and soldiers 
to join the British arms against those whom he is 
pleased to call rebels and traitors. In order to intro- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 391 

duce these among our people, they were put into the 
hands of the Indians, and in every house where they 
murdered or carried away the family they left one of 
these proclamations. Some of them were found stick- 
ing in the breasts of the persons murdered, one under 
the hand and seal of Governor Hamilton came to our 
hands. The Indians being the bearer of proclama- 
tions under the hand and seal of Governor Hamilton 
(no matter what was the subject of them), there can 
be no doubt they were acting under his direction ; and, 
as including this proof, the fact was cited on the ad- 
vice of the Council. 

''No distinction can be made between the princi- 
pal and ally by those against whom the war is waged. 
He who employs another to do a deed, makes the deed 
his own. If he calls in the hand of the assassin or 
murderer, himself becomes the assassin or murderer. 
The known rule of warfare with the Indian savages is, 
an indiscriminate butchery of men, women and chil- 
dren. These savages under this well-known charac- 
ter, are employed by the British nation as allies in the 
war against Americans. Governor Hamilton under- 
takes to be the conductor of the war. In the execu- 
tion of that undertaking, he associates small parties of 
whites under his immediate command with large par- 
ties of the savages, and sends them to act sometimes 
jointly, sometimes separately, — not against our forts 
or armies in the field, but against the farming settle- 
ments on our frontiers. Governor Hamilton, then, is 
himself the butchenof men, women and children." 

"A proclamation addressed to the Inhabitants of the Illi- 
nois, afterward printed in the pubhc papers — which though 
it does not in express terms threaten vengeance, blood and 
massacre, yet it proves that Hamilton had made for us the 



392 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

most ample provision for all these calamities. He then gives 
in detail the horrid catalogue of savage nations, extending 
from south to north, whom he had leagued with himself to 
wage combined war on our frontiers; and it is well known 
that that war would of course, be made up of blood and 
general massacre of men, women and children. Other papers 
of Governor Hamilton have come to our hands, containing 
instructions to officers going out with scalping-parties of 
Indians and whites and proving that that kind of war was 
waged under his express orders. Further proof in abundance 
might be added, but I suppose the fact too notorious to need 
them."* 

Jefferson, after discussing the question as to 
whether Hamilton, being a prisoner by capitulation 
was privileged or not from strict confinement — tak- 
ing the ground that he was not — says : "However, 
we waive reasoning on this head, because no article in 
the capitulation of Governor Hamilton is violated by 
his confinement. 

"Perhaps," adds Jefferson, "not having seen the 
capitulation, you were led to suppose it a thing of 
course, that, being able to obtain terms of surrender, 
they [Hamilton and his party] would first provide for 
their own treatment. I inclose you a copy of the ca- 
pitulation, by which you will see that the second ar- 
ticle declares them prisoners of war, and nothing is 
said as to the treatment they were entitled to. When 
Governor Hamilton signs, indeed, he adds a flourish 
containing the motives inducing him to capitulate, one 
of which was, confidence in a generous enemy. He 

* Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 321. The 
proclamation to the inhabitants of the Illinois was, as before 
shown, dated at Vincennes, Dec. 29, 1778, and published in the 
Virginia Gazette, June 26, 1779. It was the one handed to 
Beaubien, already mentioned. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 393 

should have reflected that generosity on a large scale 
would take side against him. However, these were 
only his private motives and did not enter into con- 
tract with Colonel Clark. Being prisoner of war then, 
with only such privileges as their capitulation has pro- 
vided, and that having provided nothing on the sub- 
ject of their treatment, they are liable to be treated as 
other prisoners. We have not extended our order as 
we might justifiably have done to the whole of this 
corps. Governor Hamilton and Captain Lamothe 
alone as leading offenders are in confinement. The 
other officers and men are treated as if they had been 
taken in justifiable war ; the officers being at large on 
their parole, and the men also having their liberty to a 
certain extent. Dejean was not included in the ca- 
pitulation, being taken eight days after, on the Wa- 
bash, one hundred and fifty miles from Vincennes." 

'T hope, sir," concludes Jefferson, ''that, being 
made more fully acquainted with the facts on which 
the advice of Council was grounded, and exercising 
your own good sense in cool and candid deliberation 
on these facts, and the consequences deducted from 
them according to the usage and sentiments of civil- 
ized nations, you will see the transaction in a very dif- 
ferent light from that in which it appeared at the time 
of writing your letter ; and [that you will] ascribe the 
advice of the Council not to want of attention to the 
sacred nature of public conventions, of which I hope 
we shall never in any circumstances lose sight, but to 
a desire of stopping the effusion of the unoffending 
blood of women and children and the unjustifiable se- 



394 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

verities exercised on our captive officers and soldiers 
in general, by proper severities on our part."* 

It is to be noticed that, in his reply, Jefferson not 
once alludes to Dodge, or to the particulars furnished 
by him to the Virginia Council. Had the Governor 
come to doubt the truth of his narrative? It seems 
not; for as will presently be seen, he subsequently 
wrote that, as to particular acts of barbarity on Ham- 
ilton's part to citizens of the United States, he (Jeffer- 
son) had "as sacred assurances as human testimony 
was capable of giving." Nevertheless, for fear he 
had, possibly, been imposed upon, he would not (such 
is the inference) rest the case in any wise upon that 
evidence, in his reply to Lernoult. 

That the Governor desired to see Dodge in Wil- 
liamsburg, to the end that the latter might meet his 
arch-adversary and, in hearing of the Executive, 
charge Hamilton with his crimes was what he ex- 
pected of Jefferson in view of the emphatic denial on 
part of the prisoners of what had been alleged against 
them, and does not imply any doubt on part of the 
Virginia Governor of the statements previously made 
by Dodge. The resolution of the latter at once to 
leave Pittsburg for the Virginia capital was not, it 
seems, carried out. As the sequel shows, he was in 
no especial hurry to confront the three prisoners — 
Hamilton, Dejean and Lemothe — "face to face."t 

* Ibid. The reply of Jefferson, in some of its parts, is 
illegible and therefore not printed in the work just cited. 
This has caused an arrangement of some of the words, as 
given in the text above, different from that found in the 
Virginia Calendar. 

t Appendix, Note CXII. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

HAMILTON gives a dolorous description of the 
condition of the jail in which the three pris- 
oners — himself, Lamothe and Dejean — 
were confined: "The light we received was from a 
grate, which faced the court of twenty feet square, 
with walls thirty feet high. The prison having been 
built sixty years, it may be conceived we were sub- 
ject to one very offensive convenience, in the heat of 
the summer almost suffocating. Our door was only 
opened to give us water. We were not allowed any 
candle; and, from the first to the last of our confine- 
ment, we never could find that the Governor or Council 
had ordered provision of any kind to be made for us 
except water, with which we were really very well 
supplied. The variety of vermin to which we were 
a prey, bad air, chagrin, and want of exercise, began 
to produce their effects on my companions."* 

Because of this, Hamilton thought to procure by 
writing a letter to the Lieutenant Governor of the 
State (the Governor being absent) a mitigation of 
their sufferings. So, having obtained from the jailor 
(who was left sole arbiter to deal out his indulgence 
or straighten their captivity) pen, ink, and paper, he 
wrote Mr. Pelham, who had procured him these nec- 
essary articles : 

"Having understood from you yesterday," said 
Hamilton, "that the Governor [Jefferson] was gone 
to the country to stay for a month, I request you to 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
(395) 



396 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

wait on the Lieutenant Governor, present my respects 
to him, acquainting him that, by a written order 
signed by the Governor, I, with Mr. Dejean and Cap- 
tain Lamothe, have been ironed and thrown into a 
dungeon where we have now lain upwards of forty 
days ; that we have not been informed of the cause 
of this treatment : we do not hear of our being to be 
confronted with our accusers ; we hear no mention of 
any pubHc inquiry ; we suffer without trial." 

"We understand," continued the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor, "that these proceedings are not agreeable to 
the laws of this province, or to any known rule of 
equity; that it is inconsistent with the tenor of the 
Governor's oath, and breathes the genuine spirit of 
lettres de cachet in the most arbitrary government. 
The Governor's departure without bestowing a thought 
on men in our situation shows that we may suffer in 
reputation, health and loss of time, with as little pros- 
pects of redress as if w^e were in the cells of the 
inquisition." 

"Mr. Pellham, please to inform the Lieutenant 
Governor [of Virginia]," added Hamilton, "that I do 
not think common justice to be less the birthright of 
every man, than the enjoyment of life and liberty; 
but that since our arrival in this state, we have in lieu 
of common justice, experienced uncommon injustice. 
I do, therefore, for myself and the gentlemen confined 
with me, demand justice — justice as open to the public 
as our ill treatment has been notorious." 

The next day after the writing of this letter it 
was returned to Hamilton "with the greatest insolence 
of contempt," as he puts it. He was informed by his 
jailor "that dignified characters in that country were 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 397 

not treated with so little ceremony." Now, as the mes- 
sage had been "contemptuously refused," — "I was 
necessitated to lower my tone," the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor declared, ''or give up all thoughts of redress." 
So he again wrote, but this time directly to the Lieu- 
tenant Governor and Council of the State. 

"Mr. Pelham," said he, "having very obligingly 
procured me the means of addressing you, I take this 
first opportunity of representing to you the circumstan- 
ces and situation of the two gentlemen at present in 
confinement along with me. I am to suppose they 
have been put in prison for having acted under my 
orders; if there be any criminality in those orders, 
justice demands that I alone should be the sufiferer. 
I, therefore, make it my request that I may suffer 
alone." 

"The health of these gentlemen," continued Hamil- 
ton,", is daily impaired by the consequences of their 
restraint, as they are in want of even a change of linen, 
highly necessary at this sultry season. As to my 
own conduct, however misrepresented, I have con- 
fidence (which will, I hope, hereafter appear well 
grounded) that it will support itself against the at- 
tacks which have been made upon it in this country, 
and that it will abide the test of that inquiry which 
I am to expect it will undergo whenever I shall be 
called upon by those superiors whose orders I have 
endeavored to execute with humanity and moderation." 

"Gentlemen, whatever may be the result of this 
application," added the prisoner, "I shall with pati- 
ence wait for the day when I may more largely expose 
to the world the whole tenor of my conduct, which 



398 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

I have all the reason imaginable to think has been 
discolored and misrepresented." 

But Hamilton declared, what was true, that the 
Virginia Lieutenant Governor ''never deigned an 
answer to his letter. But soon thereafter the prisoners 
got knowledge of the charges that had been preferred 
against them — by being secretly furnished with the 
''findings" of the Council. The way this was brought 
about is told by the Lieutenant Governor himself. 
"Having been," he says, "by order of the Governor 
(with the advice of his Council) prohibited the use of 
pen, ink and paper, or the converse of any one but our 
jailor, we had no employment but our reflections. At 
length, the prisoners in the next cell contrived to thrust 
the newspapers through a hole, and in them we found 
the formal charge drawn up against us, entirely un- 
supported by truth or evidence."* 

On the twenty-sixth of August, Hamilton wrote 
Haldimand from the jail in Williamsburg, that he 
had drawn bills in favor of Samuel Beal for four 
hundred pounds sterling. He said he might have to 
draw again, as there were eight officers and eighteen 
men of his party. Dejean and Lamothe as well as 
himself had been in confinement seventy-five days. 
Major Hay, with the other prisoners were at Chester- 
field, Virginia. t In explanation of this drawing of 
bills, by Hamilton, it may be stated that General Phil- 
lips had arranged for it by the consent of the Virginia 
authorities. "General Phillips," subsequently wrote 
the Lieutenant Governor, "knowing our situation, had 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS, 
t Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 399 

sent us an unlimited credit ; and his letter having passed 
to us through the hands of the Governor and Council 
[of Virginia], we, for a time, lived plentifully and 
had the means of helping out the miserable ration of 
the prisoners ; but, after a while, the Executive power 
ordered our purveyor to limit our allowance."* 

"Major Hay, Lieutenant • Schieffelin, and others, 
remained at Chesterfield, under a guard," wrote one 
of the prisoners, subsequently, who was there confined, 
''until the twenty-eighth of August, when an officer, 
with a party, arrived with orders to march them imme- 
diately to Williamsburg ; to keep them closely confined 
at nights ; and, in every instance, to let them know 
they were prisoners : if they behaved unbecoming, to 
punish them." 

On the thirty-first of the month, they started for 
the capital. "We were marched on foot," says the 
same chronicler, "passed through Williamsburg to the 
common jail, where they kept us at the door for three 
or four hours, when the jailor showed his orders to 
commit us in close confinement, searching us before- 
hand. He desired us to follow him to a cell, when 
the dungeon where the. worthy Governor was in, was 
opened, and we were locked therein. We were now 
eight in number; hardly room to stretch ourselves; 
no one permitted to confer with us. Here we con- 
tinued for the long space of eight or ten days, without 
ever having the door once opened. The criminals 
were let out to get the air of the court, but we were 
not. On the eighth day some of us fell ill at twelve 
at night and would have expired had nbt blood been 
immediately let. The jailor then represented the 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 178t — Germain MSS, 



400 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 

dreadful situation we were in as also the privates, who 
were confined in another apartment, when, after 
some deliberation, the infamous Executive Council 
indulged us, by separating the officers, namely, Capt. 
Lamothe, Lieut. Schiefifelin, Mr. Dejean and Surgeon 
McBearth, from the others, putting them in an upper 
apartment. The others were left in the dungeon, but 
the doors were left open until evening when they were 
shut at the same time that those of the criminals 
were."* 

' .\ngust ihii'ty-first," wrote Hamilton, afterwards, 
co.icerning the coming on of the residue of his captive 
r. lends at his jail, "Major Hay, with the other pris- 
oners from Chesterfield, arrived at Williamsburg; the 
soldiers were confined in the debtors' room. The offi- 
cers, five in number, were put into the dungeon, with 
us, ...hich made the heat intolerable. At eleven at 
night, we were obliged to alarm the prisoners in the 
next cell, who passed the word to the guard, for the 
jailor, — our surgeon being on the point of suffocating, 
an asthma, to which he was subject, having seized 
him, at this time, with such violence that he lost his 
pulse for ten minutes. We had tried, by wafting a 
blanket, to draw some air through the grate; but this 
was insufficient ; and if we had not had presence enough 
of mind to open a vein, he probably would have ex- 
pired ; for the state of the air was such that a candle, 
with which we had lately been indulged, would barely 
live if held near the top of the cell." 

'The jailor," continued the Lieutenant Governor, 
"took Mr. McBearth out and suffered him to sleep in 

* Schieffelin : Loose Notes — Magazine of American HiS" 
tory, vol. I, p. 189, 



^ HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 401 

his own room; and I must declare in justice to him, 
that, in several points, he showed more feeling by far 
than his employers. The door of our cell continuing 
shut for several days, the poor prisoners young and 
old, men and women, offered to be locked up and de- 
barred the use of the court, if we might be allowed 
the liberty, which at length we had." 

"The humanity and attention of these poor people," 
adds Hamilton, *'is not to be forgotten. They offered 
themselves to do a hundred kind offices; cleaned and 
washed our cell ; showed us how to manage our irons ; 
wrapped them round with rags ; offered to saw them 
off whenever means of escape were presented: but 
what struck me most was, that when we were indulged 
with the use of the court and sat down to eat, these 
people always withdrew. Gratitude calls on me to 
mention the difference of characters we experienced 
from the leaders in this country and those subject to 
their control." 

"Being attacked with a fit of the gout," concludes 
the Lieutenant Governor, "a surgeon was sent for 
who treated me with the greatest tenderness. By this 
means, my fetters were taken off and hand-cuffs put 
on; but these were of little restraint; for, as I had 
fallen away considerably, I could slip my hands 
through them with ease." 

When Washington first received the proceedings of 
the Virginia Council as to Hamilton and his compan- 
ions he had no doubt of the propriety of the treatment 
decreed a-gainst them. He believed it was founded in 
principles of a just retaliation. But, after the letter 
of Jefferson, of the seventeenth of July came to hand, 

26 



402 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. , 

and upon examining the matter more minutely, at the 
same time consulting with several intelligent general 
officers, it seemed to be the opinion of the Commander- 
in-chief — and on the sixth of August he wrote Jeffer- 
son — "that Mr. Hamilton could not, according to the 
usage of war, after his capitulation even in the man- 
ner it was made, be subjected to uncommon severity, 
under that idea, and that the capitulation placed him 
upon a different footing from that of a mere prisoner 
at discretion." 

"Whether it may be expedient," said Washington, 
"to continue Hamilton in his present confinement from 
motives of policy and to satisfy our people, is a ques- 
tion I cannot determine; but if it should be, I would 
take the liberty to suggest that it may be proper to 
publish all the cruelties he has committed or abetted, 
in a particular manner, and the evidence in support of 
the charges, that the world, holding his conduct in 
abhorrence, may feel and approve the justice of his 
fate. Indeed, whatever may be the line of conduct 
towards him, this may be advisable. If, from the 
considerations I have mentioned, the rigor of his treat- 
ment is mitigated, yet he cannot claim of right, upon 
any ground, the extensive indulgence which General 
Phillips seems to expect for him; and I should not 
hesitate to withhold from him a thousand privileges 
I might allow to common prisoners. He certainly 
merits a discrimination ; and, although the practice of 
war may not justify all the measures that have been 
taken against him, he may unquestionably without any. 
breach of public faith or the least shadow of impu- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 403 

tation, be confined to a room. His safe custody will 
be an object of great importance."'^ 

The arrival of Dodge in Williamsburg as requested 
by his friend Robinson, was not produetive of results 
as against Hamilton, Lamothe and Dejean, who were 
still closely confined in jail at that place. It is evident 
he did not confront these men in their dungeon, 
although he says he saw them there in irons ;* and it 
is doubtful if either of the prisoners were aware of 
his presence. He soon learned that in no event were 
they to be hanged; but he was informed they would 
be imprisoned until the end of the war. He got his 
information doubtless before the arrival of Wash- 
ington's letter at the Virginia capital. He returned 
to Pittsburgh declaring that the three had been ironed 
and thrown- into the dungeon for the usage they had 
given him at Detroit,t which was undoubtedly true, 
in part, as to Hamilton and Dejean, but wholly errone- 
ous as to Lamothe.J 

On the receipt of Washington's letter of the sixth 
of August by the Virginia Council in the absence of 
the Governor, that body on the twenty-ninth of Sep- 
tember, officially promulgated the following: 

"The Board having been, at no time, unmindful 
of the circumstances attending the confinement of 
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Captain Lamothe and 
Philip Dejean, which the personal cruelties of those 
men, as well as the general conduct of the enemy had 

* Writings of Washington (Ford's ed.), vol. VIII, pp. 
4, 5. 

t Dodge to Boyle, Sept. 18, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 
X See Appendix to our narative. Note CXII. 



404 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

constrained them to advise: wishing and wilHng to 
expect that their sufferings may lead them to the 
practice of humanity, should any future turn of for- 
tune, in their, favor, submit to their discretion the fate 
of their fellow-creatures ; that it may prove an admo- 
nition to others, meditating like cruelties, not to rely 
for impunity in any circumstances of distance or pre- 
sent security ; and that it may induce the enemy to 
reflect, what must be the painful consequences, should 
on their part impel us again to severities, while such 
multiplied subjects of retaliation are within our power: 
sensible that no impression can be made on the event 
of the war by wreaking vengeance on miserable cap- 
tives ; that the great cause which has animated the 
two nations against each other is not to be decided 
by unmanly cruelties on wretches, who .have bowed 
their necks to the power of the victor, but by the 
exercise of honorable valor in the field : earnestly hop- 
ing that the enemy, viewing the subject in the same 
light, will be content to abide the event of that mode 
of decision, and spare us the pains of a second depart- 
ure from kindness to our captives : confident that com- 
miseration to our prisoners is the only possible motive 
to which can be candidly ascribed, in the present actual 
circumstances of the war, the advice we are now about 
to give; the Board does advise the Governor to send 
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Captain Lamothe and 
Philip Dejean to Hanover Court House, there to re- 
main at large within certain reasonable limits taking 
their parole in the usual manner."* 

* Jelferson's Works, vol. I, p. 230 n. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 405 

Thereupon the Board ordered the irons to be taken 
off the three prisoners."^ Two days thereafter a parole 
was made out and tendered them also Major Hay, 
which, among other things, restrained them from say- 
ing anything to the prejudice of the United States. 
This they would not sign — they insisted on the "free- 
dom of speech" ; and, in consequence, they were contin- 
ued in prison, though not ironed ; "which confinement," 
wrote Jefferson to Washington, on the same day, "must 
be considered as a voluntary one, until they can deter- 
mine with themselves to be inoffensive in word as well 

as in deed.f 

"Governor Hamilton and his companions," also 

wrote Jefferson to one who was a prisoner to the 
British and had been in the Lieutenant Governor's 
power but who now pleaded leniently for him, in hopes 
of effecting an exchange of himself, "were imprisoned 
and ironed, first in retaliation for cruel treatment of 
our captive citizens by the enemy in general; (2d) 
for the barbarous species of warfare which himself and 
his savage allies carried on in our western frontier; 
(3d) for particular acts of barbarity, of which l^e him- 
self was personally guilty, to some of our citizens in his 
power. Any one of these charges was sufficient to 
justify the measure we took. Of the truth of the first 

* "Seventy-five days they [Hamilton, Dejean and La- 
mothe] were loaded with irons in a dungeon nine by ten 
feet, and no one admitted to have access to them except the 
jailors." — Schieffelin: Loose Notes — Magazine of Amer- 
ican History, vol. I, p. 189. 

t leiferson's Works, vol. I, 230 n. Silas Farmer {History 
of Detroit and Michigan, p. 254), infers that the three pris- 
oners were a second time ironed; but this was not the case; 
they were continued in prison, but not again fettered. 



406 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

yourself are witness. Your situation, indeed, seems 
to have been better since you were sent to New York ; 
but reflect on what you suffered before that, and 
knew others of your countrymen to suffer, and what 
you know is now suffered by that more unhappy part 
of them who are sfill confined on board of the prison 
ships of the enemy. Proofs of the second charge, 
we have under Hamilton's own hand ; and of the third, 
as sacred assurances as human testimony is capable 
of giving. Humane conduct on our part was found 
to produce no effect; the contrary, therefore, was to 
be tried. "'^' 

'*As we had suffered already," afterwards wrote 
Hamilton, in giving his reasons for the prisoners not 
accepting this parole, "from the simple asseverations 
of obscure persons — one of whom, John Dodge, was 
known by several Virginians to be an unprincipled 
and perjured renegade, and as we had experienced 
the inhumanity of the executive power; it plainly ap- 
peared that this parole was offered for no other motive 
than to lay us open to the malice of the first informer, 
w^hen we should probably have been imprisoned as 
before, with the additional stigma of having broken 
our parole, which it was next to impossible to observe 
in all its parts. "f 

The soldiers who formed a part of the party held 
in confinement, were, on the ninth of October, sent 
from the debtors' room in the jail to the barrack, 
where, being allowed to cut wood, "a part was sent 
to the jail for us," is the language of Hamilton. "And 

* Jefferson to Mathews, Oct. 1779. Memorandum in Pro- 
ceedings of Virginia Council, MS. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 407 

even the American soldiers on guard/' he added, 
''though miserably bare of clothing themselves, used 
to share a part of their own fuel for dressing our vic- 
tuals."^ On the eleventh, Dejean and Lamothe wrote 
a memorial stating they wished to have their paroles 
tendered them that they might be enlarged, and remain 
no longer in confinement, although they had before 
been unanimous in rejecting it. They were accord- 
ingly discharged-f They repaired, of course, to Han- 
over Court House in accordance with the terms of their 
paroles. Lieutenant Schieffelin being indisposed was 
told he could be admitted on parole; and he sent to 
the authorities the following: 

" 'Gentlemen : Having been informed that it has been 
a general practice to permit prisoners of war on parole to 
procure themselves an exchange, or wherewith to defray 
necessaries of life during their captivity, my present unhappy 
situation prompts me to take this mode of requesting that the 
indulgence be granted me to proceed to New York for the 
same purpose. I shall sign the usual parole, and a strict 
adherence shall be paid thereto. Relying that my request 
will be taken into consideration, — 

" 'I am, with respect, gentlemen, your humble servant, 
1st Lieut. Detroit Volunteers. 
" 'Jacob Schieffelin^ 

" "Williamsburg Prison, Oct. 11, 1779. 

" 'The Gov. and Council of Va.' 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 

t Schieffelin : Loose Notes — Magazine of American 
History, vol. I, p. 189. "Captain Lamothe and Mr. Dejean 
sometime in last October," afterward wrote Hamilton, "ac- 
cepted the parole formerly rejected." (Hamilton to Haldi- 
mand, July 6, 1781 — Germain MSS.) But the statement of 
Hamilton was taken by him from his notes of August 1, 
1780; hence the words "sometime in last October." 



408 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"The jailor returned with answer that they were resolved 
to keep us confined until we had signed the paroles first 
tendered to us."* 

Haldimand, at Quebec, was much concerned at 
the treatment meted out to Hamilton and those with 
him, by the Virginia authorities ; but he consoled him- 
self with the belief that the "rebels" would not venture 
to take their livesf — a matter really that had not for 
a moment been considered by either Jefferson or his 
Council. It was only Dodge who had wished it; J 
and, with him, the "wish was father of the thought." 

"The measure of the Council," said Washington, 
in writing Jefferson, on the twenty-third of November, 
"in remanding Governor Hamilton and his compan- 
ions back to confinement, on their refusing to sign the 
parole tendered them, is perfectly agreeable to the 
practice of the enemy." The particular part objected 
to by them — their not being allowed to say anything 
to the prejudice of the United States — the Com- 
mander-in-chief declared he had always understood 
entered into the paroles given by American officers 
to the enemy. "Of late," added Washington, "or ra- 
ther since Sir Henry Clinton has had the command, 
the treatment of our prisoners has been more within 
the line of humanity and in general very different from 
that which they experienced under his predecessors. "§ 

* Schieffelin : Loose Notes — Magazine of American 
History, vol. I, p. 190. 

t Haldimand to Bolton, Nov. 11, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 
MSS. 

X Dodge to Boyle, July 13, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 

% Writings of Washington (Ford's ed.), vol. VIII, pp. 
121, 122. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 409 

"Hamilton, Hay and four others," wrote Jefferson 
to Washington on the twenty-eighth of November, 
"are still obstinate. They were continued therefore, 
in close confinement, though their irons have never 
been on since your second letter on the subject. I 
wrote full information of this matter to General Phil- 
lips also, from whom I had received letters on the 
subject. I cannot, in reason, believe that the enemy, 
on receiving this information, either from yourself 
or General Phillips, will venture to impose new cruel- 
ties on our officers in captivity with them. Yet their 
conduct, hitherto, has been most successfully prog- 
nosticated by reversing the conclusions of right reason. 
It is, therefore, my duty, as well as it was my prom- 
ise to the Virginia captives, to take measures for 
discovering any change which may be made in their 
situation. For this purpose, I must apply for your 
Excellency's interposition. I doubt not but you have 
an established mode of knowing, at all times, through 
your commissary of prisoners, the precise state of those 
in the power of the enemy. I must, therefore, pray 
you to put into motions, any such means you have, 
for obtaining knowledge of the stiuation of the Vir- 
ginia officers in captivity. If you should think proper, 
as I could wish, to take upon yourself to retaHate any 
new sufferings which may be imposed on them, it will 
be more likely to have due weight and to restore the 
unhappy on both sides to that benevolent treatment 
for which all. should wish."* 

On Christmas day, Hamilton's imprisoned soldiers 
were marched away to King Williams' Court House.f 

* Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 237. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



410 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"The weather at this time," the Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor wrote subsequently, "became so intensely cold that 
we could not rise from the floor, but continued day and 
night in our blankets. The scurvey began to make 
its appearance and our legs to swell. The jailor 
then concluding we could not survive the severity of 
the cold, in our present situation, took us to an upper 
room in the jail, where prisoners had formerly been 
kept ; this, though it had no window but an open grate 
was more tolerable than the dungeon. We could light 
fire in the chimney, and by sacrificing part of our blan- 
kets to stop the grated window, and stuff the cracks 
in the ceiling, we made a shift to endure in the day 
time; at night we were remanded to our dungeon."* 

"The whole winter," wrote one of the officers, "did 
we pass without a stick of wood allowed us. Blankets 
were demanded for us by the keepers, who got for 
answer that no blankets could be given us ; that their 
friends who were at New York were ill-treated by 
our people, some starved for want of provisions and 
blankets. This is the consolation they received from 
their cruel masters. General Phillips was so obliging 
as to order a supply of clothing from Albermarle. 
When it came to our hands, one third only was de- 
livered to us. The balance was laid on the wagoner: 
poor restitution! The Executive restricted us from 
having our meals as usual from the tavern at our own 
expense, but ordered us to be put on prison allow- 
ance — salt beef damaged, and Indian meal." 

"In January, a Mr. William B. St. Clair, volun- 
teer of the Forty-fourth regiment, with ten troopers of 
the Seventeenth Dragoons, were committed in close 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 41] 

confinement and kept four days without an ounce of 
provision issued for them. Governor Hamilton sent 
out of the mess a supply, or they would have starved. 
The Executive power of the rebels in Virginia were 
pleased to accuse Governor Hamilton and others of 
having raised the Indian tribes to murder women, 
children and defenceless men — most infamous false- 
hoods, propagated by them to inveterate the com- 
monality against the British, on the frontiers. They 
say it is cruel in them to act with Indians."* 

Lieutenant Schieffelin, on the nineteenth of April, 
1780, at 7 P. M., made his escape from the prison in 
Williamsburg.f With him went Rocheblave in vio- 
lation of his parole, as Governor Jefferson afterward 
claimed.^ The two made their way to Little York, 
and embarked on board a schooner Schieffelin engaged, 
and made their way to the eastern shore, where they 
remained concealed for nine weeks. § "After -great 
risks and difficulties" both reached New York in safety. 
In thus escaping, Rocheblave declares he did not break 
his parole. II 

* Schieffelin: Loose Notes — Magazine of American 
History, vol. I, p. 190. Schieffelin then gives in full the Vir- 
ginia resolutions of May 21, 1776, as to the employment of 
Indians in regular warfare. 

t Schieffelin : Loose Notes — Magazine of American 
History, vol. I, p. 190. Hamilton gives the previous day as 
the date of Schieffelin and Rocheblave's escape. (Letter to 
Haldimand, July 6, 1781 — Germain MSS.) But Schieffelin, 
for this, is the better authority. 

X Jefferson Works, vol. T, p. 258. 

§ Schieffelin : Loose Notes, loc. cit. 

II Mason's Early Chicago and Illinois, p. 374. For Roche- 
blave's subsequent career, see the same work, pp. 375-381, 



412 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

On the first of August, Francis Maisonville de- 
stroyed himself.* ''This poor man" . . . are the 
subsequent words of Hamilton, "was not . . . 
proof to the long confinement he underwent at Wil- 
liamsburg. The gloominess of his situation affected 
his spirits first; the apprehension of suffering an 
ignominious death lowered them still more, till his 
reason began to be impaired. The surgeon, a man of 
great humanity, though attached to the cause of re- 
bellion, wrote to the Governor and Council of Vir- 
ginia, to solicit a little enlargement for this poor man 
as the only means likely to save him. What the 
answer was I know not; but the unfortunate creature 
put an end to his miseries and his life, in spite of two 
persons who watched him and were aware of his 
situation. "f 

Hamilton and Major Hay, on the day of Maison- 
ville s death, were sent .to the jail at Chesterfield; 
McBearth and Bellefeuille to King William Court 
House. Another parole was offered Hamilton sub- 
sequently for his consideration, "which varied so lit- 
tle," he afterwards wrote, "from the first that we 
chose to remain prisoners rather than accept it."$ 

"While at Chesterfield" is the language of the 
Lieutenant Governor, "our confinement was rendered 
very tolerable; and several of the military and others 
who were convinced of the injustice and illiberality 
of our treatment, showed by their behavior what opin- 
ion they had of the executive power. In this jail Ma- 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 20, 1780. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

t Same to same, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 
Jld. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 413 

jor Hay and I had a very severe though short attack of 
fever, which was pretty generally felt through the 
country: we were well attended. We had liberty' 
to walk about in the neighborhood of the jail-"* 

The imprisonment of the Lieutenant 'Governor 
called out on part of General Haldimand a retaliation, 
but in a mild form. He says : "From the barbarous 
treatment of our prisoners by the rebels in many in- 
stances, particularly in that of Lieut. Gov'r Hamil- 
ton and the troops taken w4th him, (who are still con- 
fined in dungeons upon scanty and unwholesome pro- 
visions), and their obliging many, even in the charac- 
ter of gentlemen, to work for their maintenance, I have 
given orders to the commanding officers of the several 
posts to employ the rebel prisoners in whatever work 
they may be most useful, if necessary under a guard, 
allowing them a full ration and pay equal to the sol- 
diers who are employed as laborers — which is to be 
applied to clothe them. The air and exercise will pre- 
serve their health, and there cannot be a doubt of their 
being treated with humanity."f 

On the fifth of September, the attention of the 
Governor of Virginia v\^as called, by Washington, to 
the confinement of Hamilton, in a letter of that date. 



* Id, Farmer {History of Detroit and Michigan, p. 255) 
confounds the American Brigadier General Hamilton with 
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, giving a letter from Col. 
James Wood mentioning, as he (Farmer) supposes, the latter; 
which would indicate that the prisoner was, on the 15th of 
June, 1780, in confinement at Charlottesville, Va. ; but this is 
error. None of the British taken by Clark and sent to Vir- 
ginia were held at the place last named. 

t Haldimand to Sinclair, Aug. 10, 1780.— Haldimand 
MSS. 



414 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The Commander-in-chief was desirous that Virginia 
should consent to his being exchanged. "I was hon- 
ored yesterday," wrote Governor Jefferson, on the 
twenty-sixth, in reply, "with your favor of the fifth 
instant, on the subject of prisoners, and particularly of 
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton. You are not unap- 
prised of the influence of this officer with the Indians, 
his activity and embittered zeal against us. You also, 
perhaps, know how precarious is our tenure of the 
Illinois country, and critical is the situation of the new 
counties on the Ohio. These circumstances determ- 
ined us to retain Governor Hamilton and Major Hay 
within our power, when we delivered up the other 
prisoners. On a late representation from the people 
of Kentucky, by a person sent here from that country, 
and expressions of what they had reason to appre- 
hend from these two prisoners in the event of their 
liberation, we assured them they would not be parted 
with, though we were giving up our other prisoners. 
''Lieutenant Colonel Dabusson, aid to Baron de 
Kalb, lately came here on his parole, with an offer 
from Lord Rawdon to exchange him for Hamilton. 
Colonel Towles is now here with a like proposition 
for himself, from General Phillips, very strongly urged 
by the General. These, and other overtures do not 
lessen our opinion of the importance of retaining him ; 
and they have been, and will be, uniformly rejected. 
Should the settlement, indeed, of a cartel become im- 
practicable, without the consent of the states to submit 
their separate prisoners to its obligation, we will give 
up these two prisoners, as we would do anything rather 
than be an obstacle to the general good. But no other 
circumstances would, I believe, extract them from us. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 416 

These two gentlemen, with a Lieutenant ElHgood, are 
the only separate prisoners we have retained, and the 
last, only on his own request, and not because we set 
any store by him. There is indeed a Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor [British Commandant] Rocheblave, of Kaskas- 
kia, who has broken his parole, and gone to New 
York, whom we must shortly trouble your Excellency 
to demand for us, as soon as we can forward to you 
the proper documents."* 

Colonel Towles,f already mentioned, arrived on 
the twenty-third of September, at Chesterfield. He 
had been a long time prisoner to the English on Long 
Island. He had hopes, as we have seen, of procuring 
an exchange, and came, under permission, to Vir- 
ginia to effect it if possible. He brought Hamilton 
letters from friends, which gave him to understand 
that, unless he accepted a parole, there was little prob- 
ability of his (Hamilton's) exchange. Being, there- 
fore, pretty well assured that the only hopes of return- 
ing to his friends lay in signing it, and having written 
to a "rebel" officer (Brigadier General Hamilton) re- 
questing the continuance of his kindness to the residue 
of the prisoners then removed to Frederick Town, the 
Lieutenant Governor accepted and set his name to 
one: 

'T, Henry Hamilton, Lieutenant Governor, and 
Superintendent of Detroit, hereby acknowledge myself 
a prisoner of war to the Commonwealth of Virginia; 

* Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 258. It will be remembered 
that Rocheblave claimed he did not break his parole. It 
seems that no farther action was taken by Jefferson in the 
matter. 

t The Colonel's name is incorrectly given in Hamilton to 
Haldimand, July 6, 1781 (Germain MSS.) as 'Towler.'' 



416 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and having permission from his Excellency, Thomas 
Jjefferson, Governor of the said Commonwealth, to go 
to New York, do pledge my faith and most sacredly 
promise upon my parole of honor, that I will not do, 
say, write, or cause to be done, said or written, directly 
or indirectly, in any respect whatever, anything to the 
prejudice of the United States of America, or of any 
of them, until I shall be enlarged from my captivity 
by exchange or otherwise with the consent of the said 
Governor of Virginia or his successors; and that I 
will return when required by the said Governor or his 
successor, to such place within the said Commonwealth 
as he shall point out and deliver myself up again to 
him or the person acting for or under him. 

'Tn testimony whereof I have hereunto set my 
hand and seal at Chesterfield, this loth day of October, 
1780. 

"Henry Hamilton/^ 

"The within mentioned Henry Hamilton, having 
signed a parole, of which this is a copy, has permis- 
sion to go to New York and to remain within such 
parts of that State as are in possession of the armies 
of his Britannic Majesty, until he shall be exchanged 
or otherwise liberated with the consent of the Gov- 
ernor of Virginia for the time being, or until he shall 
be recalled by him. 

"Given under my hand and seal of the Common- 
wealth of Virginia, at Richmond, date within written. 

"Th. Jefferson [L. S.]" 

Major Hay accepted and signed a like parole at 
the same date.* 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 417 

On this very day — October tenth — Washington 
wrote: "The State of Virginia, sensible of the dan- 
gerous influence which Governor Hamilton holds over 
the Indians^ has absolutely refused to exchange him 
on any terms, for the present at least.""^ 

On the twenty-fifth, Jefferson wrote Washington 
that ''on some representations received by Colonel 
Towles that an indulgence to Governor Hamilton and 
his companions to go to New York, on parole, would 
produce the happiest effect on the situation of our 
officers on Long Island, we have given him. Major 
Hay, and some of the same party at Winchester, leave 
to go there on parole. The two former go by water, 
the latter by land."t 

Hamilton and Hay had no sooner accepted a parole 
than they hastened to Williamsburg on their way to 
Hampton where they were stopped by the Lieutenant 
Governor of Virginia, who, as General Leslie had just 
arrived, thought it not advisable to let them pass, 
giving orders for their being escorted back to Rich- 
mond. This treatment Hamilton resented and the 
order was rescinded. As soon as he had given certifi- 
cates recommending to General Leslie such of the 
inhabitants as had shown an attachment to the British 
government (thereby, virtually, violating his parole) 
or had been kind to him and his company in their 
distress, he with Hay proceeded to York, where some 
turbulent people were minded to set a guard over 
them and stop their progress ; however, they finally 
reached Hampton. This short journey cost the British 
Lieutenant Governor one thousand pounds in the de- 

* Washington's Writings (Sparks's ed.), vol. VII, p. 240, 
t Id., p. 291. 

27 



418 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

predated paper money then in circulation. At Hamp- 
ton, the two received civil treatment. They were fur- 
nished with a canoe, which, to their "inexpressible 
satisfaction," put them on board his Majesty's sloop, 
the Delight, Captain Inglis, who, by his kind recep- 
tion of them "presently recruited" their "lowered 
spirits."* 

The Lieutenant Governor and Hay next went to 
wait on Captain Gayton (in the Romulus), the Com- 
modore of the British squadron. The cartel vessel 
which was to have conveyed them from Hampton to 
New York, had been taken, and the master's certificate 
not appearing genuine, he, with his vessel, was de- 
tained. Having paid their respects to General Leslie, 
who received them with the greatest politeness, the 
two returned to the Romulus. Finally the cartel mas- 
ter was suffered to go to Hampton to prepare for his 
voyage. The stores which General Leslie and Cap- 
tain Gayton had most liberally supplied the Lieuten- 
ant Governor and his companions with "were plun- 
dered by the Americans on shore," as the two did 
not care to risk themselves out of a king's ship in an 
effort to save them.f 

"At length/' says Hamilton, "we set off from the 
Romulus in our cartel, a little miserable sloop, of 
thirty-five feet keel, for a passage, in which we were 
obliged to pay four hundred hard dollars. A violent 
gale of wind obliged us to anchor off Smith's island, 
where we were very near perishing. Our crew was 
three hours at work to get the anchor out of the 
ground. At last we got it home, leaving one flook be- 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS» 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. . 419 

hind; and, to our no small mortification were obliged 
to put back to Hampton. Here we were on the point 
of being detained by order of General Nelson, who 
had assembled some militia, but our skipper being 
desirous to get us away, and having got another an- 
chor, we once more set sail for New York." 

"A very severe gale of wind," continues the Lieu- 
tenant Governor, "took us near the capes of Dela- 
ware, when our skipper, not having a lag-line on 
board laid the vessel to; and we had reason in the 
morning to admire our good fortune, for the wind was 
right on shore and it was twelve at night when he lay 
to. Judging by the sun, we were [now] opposite 
Delaware Bay (as it proved) ; for we had [been] 
driven seven leagues up the bay from the time of lay- 
ing to." 

"We arrived at New York," are Hamilton's fur- 
ther words, "very squalid spectacles, not having had 
any sleep for three days and nights, our clothes ragged, 
shoes broken, and [we] so altered in face and figure 
that our acquaintances could scarcely recollect us."t 

Not long after reaching New York, Hamilton 
wrote to his Commander-in-chief, giving him some- 
thing of an idea of his own and his companions' suf- 

t Id. On the eleventh of November and before Haldimand 
had learned of the acceptance by Hamilton and Hay of a 
parole, he wrote .that he was much concerned to find how 
Hamilton and those with him .had been treated, but he did 
not think the "rebels" would "venture to take their lives" 
(Haldimand to Bolton — Haldimand MSS.) "The treatment 
of Hamilton by the titular Governor and Council of Virginia 
has been so barbarous that his Excellency [General Haldi- 
mand] will not set at liberty any prisoners from that State 
till Hamilton is liberated." (Mathews to Campbell, Dec. 28, 
irao — Haldimand MSS.) 



420 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

ferings since they had been made prisoners, and re- 
commending to his consideration the services of his 
officers : 

"It has been," said he, "matter of great concern to 
me, that my situation has put it out of my power to 
know for a certainty whether or not the different 
letters I have had the honor of addressing to your 
Excellency, have found their way to Quebec. 

''Neglect in point of respect to 3^our Excellency, 
or willful remissness of duty, have not a place among 
my failures. I have, it is true, experienced the mis- 
fortune of having undertaken an enterprise which has 
been attended with great expense and fallen totally 
short of success, yet I have a confidence in your Ex- 
cellency's candor and generosity, that the unexampled 
treachery of those w^hom I had endeavored to win by 
kind treatment, will appear to have disappointed my 
measures and that at least I have made the best use 
in my power of the means I had for distressing the 
enemy. 

"It would be far beyond the compass of a letter, 
were I to enter into a detail of facts, necessary for 
clearing up this point, so necessary for your Ex- 
cellency's information and my own vindication. My 
confinement since my being a prisoner of war, has been 
so strict, and the watch over my actions so exact, that 
I have but very imperfect minutes whereon to build my 
defence ; yet, while the candid few suspend their opin- 
ions, I shall quiet myself as to the malicious censures 
of the many. 

"After some months confinement in a dungeon, 
the Governor of Virginia ofifered a parole, which we 
all rejected, as it was manifestly constructed to the 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 421 

purpose of ensnaring us and taking advantage of some 
new ground for crimination. 

"J have since that time been an entire year a pris- 
oner, the greater part of the time in a dungeon, with 
Major Hay and other of the gentlemen made prisoners 
of war at the same time. A second and a third parole 
have been tendered to us in the course of that time, the 
last I accepted ' with some regret, and am now on 
parole ; but as yet unexchanged and restricted to the 
limits of the lines dependent on this garrison. 

"However, by the goodness of his Excellency, Sir 
Henry Clinton, and the extraordinary kindness of Ma- 
jor General Phillips, who has given himself infinite 
trouble on our accounts, I am in hope we shall all be 
finally exchanged shortly. 

''Major Hay's situation is truly pityable; upward 
of two years absent from his numerous family, of 
whom he has had no intelligence, his anxiety and dis- 
tress are more easily imagined than described. His 
misfortune will recommend him more strongly to your 
Excellency, than can a person who himself stands so 
greatly in need of your protection and support. I 
must, however, in justice to Major Hay, lessen my 
own pretensions to your Excellency's favor, by avow- 
ing, that on every occasion, his advice and assistance 
were my chief resource. He voluntarily embarked, 
on my projecting the enterprise against the rebels, and 
his fortitude has supported him in the most trying cir- 
cumstances, ignorant of the fate of his wife and seven 
children. Your Excellency will, I hope, pardon my 
zeal, for a very deserving person, an officer of so 
long standing, if I presume to mention his eldest son 
being in his sixteenth year. 



422 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"Captain Lamothe's health suffered much by his 
confinement, and he is now ill ; were it practical and his 
exchange effected, he would attempt crossing the 
Lakes this winter to receive your Excellency's com- 
mands. 

"Lieutenant Schieffelin, who has set out for Que- 
bec, will, I hope, have the honor of acquainting your 
Excellency with some particulars, which, in my present 
situation, I am not at liberty to enter upon. He 
effected his escape out of prison, last April ; has been, 
on all occasions, devoted to the service, and has done 
his duty with alacrity and diligence. The unfortunate 
Mr. Frangois Maisonville put an end to his miseries 
in the prison with us the first day of August last. Mr. 
Bellefeuille has behaved with great propriety, and is a 
young man of unexceptionable character. He has 
been upon pay as an interpreter at one dollar per 
diem. I shall take the liberty of continuing that to 
him, till I can have your Excellency's orders and in- 
structions, as the young gentleman is exposed to ex- 
pense at this place, and has no other resource as yet. 
Should your Excellency judge proper to order Cap- 
tain Lamothe's company to be recruited I would beg 
leave to recommend Mr. Bellefeuille as second lieu- 
tenant of it. 

"Mr. McBeath, who willingly accompanied me to 
Vincennes, and has shared our fatigues and hard- 
ships, gave up what views of advantage in his pro- 
fession, he was pursuing at Detroit and being now 
debarred the support of his relations and friends at 
so great a distance from home, I hope it will appear 
but reasonable to your Excellency, that I should con- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 423 

tinue his pay likewise, till further orders, as his situ- 
ation is, owing to his misfortune, not to his fault. 

"I have the honor of transmitting by the oppor- 
tunity of a vessel, bound to Halifax an account of 
bills drawn and cash disbursed, directed to Captain 
Brehm, your Excellency's secretary; the vouchers 
shall be forwarded as soon as possible, which I hope 
will be by the hands of Major Hay. 

"Should my exchange take place speedily, I shall, 
with the approbation of Sir Henry Clinton sail for 
England, and lose no time to put myself under your 
Excellency's orders."* 

''His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, Major General 
Phillips, and Lord Rawdon," are" the concluding words 
of Hamilton, in his Journal proper, ''were so good 
as to take several steps toward procuring our exchange, 
which finally took place on the fourth day of March, 
1 78 1. We took our passage for England the tenth, 
but the packet not sailing till the twenty-seventh of 
May, our arrival in this country was so late as the 
twenty-first of June."t 

On the sixth day of July, Hamilton, then in Lon- 
don, wrote to Haldimand at Quebec: "The last let- 
ter I had the honor of addressing to your Excellency," 
said he, "was dated May the seventh, 1781, and was 
accompanied with returns of the prisoners and general 
account of the disbursements and of cash received 
at different times, duplicates of all which shall be sent 
by the first opportunity. The packet which brought 
Major Hay and myself sailed from Sandy Hook on the 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 12, 1780. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

t Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS. 



424 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

twenty-seventh of May and arrived in Falmouth, on 
the twenty-first of June.""^ 

It gave Haldimand much satisfaction to hear of 
Hamihon's enlargement and exchange, and he wrote 
his congratulations, trusting he would derive benefit 
from his trip to England. He informed him of the 
arrival in Quebec of Captain Lamothe and of Roche- 
blave and Bellefeuille. He generously assured the 
Lieutenant Governor that he would try what could 
be done by Dr. McBearth.f 

On the recall of General Haldimand, in 1785, Ham- 
ilton was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Quebec. 
He held his position one year, when he went to Eng- 
land, and was, soon after his arrival there, made 
Governor of Dominica. He died at Antiqua in Septem- 
ber, 1 796. J Hay was rewarded with the office of 
Lieutenant Governor of Detroit. As might be pre- 
sumed, Dejean did not return to Canada ;§ however, 
the criminal proceedings against him and Hamilton, 
which had been commenced at Montreal were not 
approved by the home government. "The present- 
ments," wrote Germain, "of the grand jury at Mon- 
treal against Lieutenant Governor Hamilton and Mr. 
Dejean, are expressive of a greater degree of jeal- 
ousy than the transaction complained of in the then 
circumstances of the Province appear to warrant." 

* Haldimand MSS. (See Appendix to our narrative, 
Note CXIII.) 

t Haldimand to Hamilton, Oct. 23, 1781. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

X Morgan's Celebrated Canadians, p. 108. 

§ Dejean to Haldimand, from Vincennes, July 28, 1780, 
and to De Peyster from the same place, at same date. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 425 

"Such stretches of authority," continues Lord George, 
"are, however, only to be excused by unavoidable nec- 
essity and the justness and fitness of the occasion; 
and you will therefore direct the Chief Justice to ex- 
amine the proofs produced of the criminal's guilt, 
and if he shall be of opinion that he merited the pun- 
ishment he met with, although irregularly inflicted, it 
is the King's pleasure that you do order the Attorney 
'General to grant a nolle prosequi and stop all further 
proceedings in the matter.""^ And they were stopped. 

* Germain to Haldimand, April 16, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

JUST as, on the twenty-seventh of February, 
Colonel Clark in Vincennes was getting anxious 
because of the non-arrival of the Willing, the 
bateau made its appearance. It was three o'clock in 
the afternoon when the boat was made secure at the 
landing. It had been detained by the strong current, 
of the Ohio and the Wabash. On board were the 
lieutenants — Rogers (the commander) and another 
— and forty-eight men, two having been added to 
the original number — they were those dispatched 
by Clark on the nineteenth to drop down the Wabash 
until they met the Willing. The armament remained 
intact — two iron four-pounders and four swivels.* 

Great was the mortification on the vessel when all 
learned the particulars of the siege and surrender of 
the fort that they had been denied the privilege of 
taking part in the attack. f But good humor soon 
took the place of disappointment; and no one was 
more happy than the Colonel himself ; it was because 
of the arrival, in the galley, of William Myres, who 
had been sent by him as an express from Kaskaskia 
and had now returned from Williamsburg, having 
been taken up on the Ohio by the commander of the 
Willing and brought back to the mouth of the Wa- 
bash, and taken thence to Vincennes. 

The package delivered by Myres contained the 
official letter of the Governor to Clark of January i, 

* Clark's Journal (entry of Feb. 27, 1779). — Haldimand 
MSS. But the Colonel says there were five swivels on the 
Willing. In this he was in error ; there were only four. 

t "Bowman's Journal" — entry of the 27th of February. 
(426) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 42V 

preceding, and one to him on private affairs from his 
Excellency. One also was received by the Colonel 
from Benjamin Harrison, speaker of the House of 
Delegates, with the vote of thanks of the House en- 
closed. There were, besides the instructions of Gov- 
ernor Henry to Clark of December 12, copies of those 
issued to John Todd as Lieutenant of Illinois county, 
and to Lieutenant Colonel Montgomery, both of the 
date last mentioned. Captain Bowman, too, received 
his commission as Major."^ The whole gave encour- 
agement for the future to the Colonel. His battalion 
was to be completed (he might expect) in a few 
months, and an entirely new regiment for service in 
the Illinois was to be raised. 

"What crowned the general joy," afterward wrote 
Clark to the Virginia Governor, "was the arrival of 
William Myers, my express to you, with your let- 
ters, which gave general satisfaction. The soldiery 
being made sensible of the gratitude of their country 
for their services, were so much elated that they would 
have attempted the reduction of Detroit, had I ordered 
them."t 

The American commander, on the ninth of March, 
busied himself in writing to the Virginia executive 
and others on public affairs — answering the letters 
he had received. He was particularly careful to give 
Governor Henry full details in answer to the letter 

* "Came [Feb. 27, 1779] William Myers express from 
Williamsburgh, with very good news. Capt. Bowman receives 
a Major's commission inclosed from the Government." 
("Bowman's Journal" — State Department MSS.) 

t Clark to the Governor of Virginia, April 29, 1779 — 
Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222 n. (See Appendix to our 
narrative, Note CXIV.) 



428 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

of the latter of the first day of January ; but it never 
reached its destination : nor did his Journal, which 
he had kept from the time of leaving Kaskaskia to 
the final capture of Vincennes.* "By "William Myres," 
said he to Henry, in reply to the letter from the 
Governor relating wholly to private matters, "you 
wrote me to procure you, if possible, some horses and 
mares. Nothing could give me greater pleasure than 
to serve you, but I think, at present, it is out of my 
power, as my situation and circumstances are much 
changed. There are no such horses here as you re- 
quest me to get ; and I have so much public business 
to do, especially in the Indian department, that I doubt 
if I shall be able to go to the Illinois for some time." 
Changing his subject to other matters that Gover- 
nor Henry had written him about, the Colonel said: 
*T thank you for your remembrance of my situation 
respecting lands on the frontiers. I learn that [the 
Virginia Government] has reserved lands on the Cum- 
berland for the soldiers. If I should be deprived of a 
certain tract on that river which I purchased three 
years ago and have been at considerable expense to 
improve, I shall, in a manner, lose my all. It is 
known by the name of the 'Great French Lick,' on the 
south (or west) side, containing three thousand acres. 
If you can do anything for me in saving it, I shall 
ever remember it with gratitude. There are glorious 
situations and bodies of land in this country formerly 
purchased. I am in hopes of being able, in a short 
time, to send you a map of the whole."t 

* See Appendix to our narrative, Note CXVII ; also 
Note CXXV. 

t Clark to Gov. Henry. — Haldimand MSS. The letter 
had for its heading — 'Tort Patrick Henry, Vincennes;" 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 429 

The next day, the Colonel wrote to Benjamin Har- 
rison, Speaker of the House of Delegates of Vir- 
ginia, acknowledging, in fitting terms, his apprecia- 
tion of the action of the House, of the twenty-third 
of the previous November, in voting their thanks to 
him and his men for their services in capturing the 
Illinois towns. 

'T must confess, sir," he said, "that I think my 
country has done me no more honor than I merited; 
but you may be assured my study shall be to de- 
serve it." "By my public letters," he added, "you 
will be made fully acquainted with my late success- 
ful expedition against Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, 
who has fallen into my hands with all the principal 
partisans of Detroit. This stroke will nearly put an 
end to the Indian war. Had I but men enough to 
take advantage of the present confusion of the Indian 
nations, I could silence the whole in two months." 

As it was, he hoped to accomplish some effective 
work with the help of five hundred men reported as 
ordered out to reinforce him. "If they arrive," he 
wrote, "with what I have in this country, I am in 
hopes it will enable me to do something clever.""^ 

Now more than at any previous time, did Clark 
yearn for an opportunity to March against Detroit. 
Nay, he even flattered himself the auspicious moment 
for such an undertaking was near at hand. "Never," 
says he, "was a person more mortified than I was, at 
this time, to see so fair an opportunity to push a 

and the concluding words were — "My compliments to your 
lady and family." [See Appendix, Note CXV. (Letter 

No. I).]- -. 

* Clark to Harrison, March 10, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 
[See Appendix to our narrative, (Letter No. 2), Note CXV], 



430 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

victory — Detroit — lost for want of a few men 
. Having at once all the intelligence I could 
wish for from both sides, I was better able to fix my 
future plans of operation against that post. By his 
Excellency's letter, I might expect to have a com- 
plete battalion in a few months. The militia of Illi- 
nois I knew would turn out; and I did not doubt 
of getting two or three hundred men from Kentucky ; 
which put the matter out of any uncertainty. I 
contented myself on that presumption."* 

''Early in the month of March, I laid before the 
officers," wrote Clark subsequently, "my plans for the 
reduction of Detroit and explained the almost cer- 
tainty of success and the probability of keeping pos- 
session of it until we could receive succor from the 
States. If we awaited the arrival of the troops 
mentioned in the dispatches from the Governor of 
Virginia, the enemy in the meantime might get 
strengthened, and probably we might not be so cap- 
able of carrying the [post] with the expected rein- 
forcement as we should be with our present force, in 
case we were to make the attempt at this time; and 
in the event of our being disappointed in the promised 
reinforcement, we might not be able to effect it all. 
There were various arguments made use of on this 
delicate point. Every person seemed anxious to im- 
prove the present opportunity, but prudence appeared 
to forbid the execution and induced us to wait for the 
reinforcement." 

"The arguments," continues Clark, "which ap- 
peared to have the greatest weight, were, that, with 

* Clark to Mason -— ■ Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 
75, 76, 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 431 

such a force we might march boldly through the In- 
dian nations; that it would make a great [impres- 
sion] on them as well as the inhabitants of Detroit, 
and have a better effect than if we were now to slip off 
and take the place with so small a force; that the 
British would not wish to weaken Niagara by sending 
any considerable reinforcement to Detroit; that it 
was more difficult for that post to get succor from 
Canada than it was for us to receive it from the 
States; and that the garrison at Detroit would not 
be able to get a reinforcement in time to prevent our 
designs, as we might with propriety expect ours in 
a few weeks."''' 

Myres, with two men, on the fourteenth, set out 
by land from Vincennes for the Virginia capital, — 
sent again as an express by Clark. j* He was enjoined 
to hasten and, if necessary, to press whatever he might 
need for the service, even using force, if necessary; 
such were the orders given him the day before in 
writing; J but the three returned the next day, not 
being able to proceed because of the country being 
overflowed with water. However, Myres soon started 
again, this time with three men, going in a canoe 
down the Wabash to its mouth and up the Ohio to the 
Falls. Thence, not earlier than the fourth of April, 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
159, 160. The argument that it was more difficult for Detroit 
"to get succor from Canada" than for Clark to receive it 
"from the States" was (if really made) a fallacy, it may be 
premised, soon to be made apparent. 

t "Bowman's Journal" of March 14th. 

J From the Haldimand MSS. — Clark's Instructions' tQ 
Myers. [See Appendix, Note CXV, (Letter No, 3.)] 



432 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

he set out for his destination by land.* He had in- 
trusted to him not only letters of Clark and of some 
of his officers and men but the Jolirnal of the Colonel 
containing an account of the march from Kaskaskia 
to Vincennes and of the capture of Hamilton and his 
garrison. t 

On the fifteenth an express arrived at Vincennes 
from Kaskaskia with the information that forty-one 
men from New Orleans had reached there. This was 
Captain James Willing's Company ; — the Captain, 
after resigning his command to Robert George, had 
started with a companion for Philadelphia. J Captain 
George, on his arrival, took charge of the garrison 
in Fort Clark. § 

"On my return from New Orleans," afterward 
wrote George, 'T had positive written orders to join 
Colonel Clark in the Illinois or the commanding officer 
there, who was to give me order for my future des- 
tination. These orders [to join Clark] I received from 
Mr. Pollock, agent for the United States, and also 
from Captain Willing." || 

It was now a question with the American com- 
mander what he should do with the residue of his 

* "Bowman's Journal" — Department of State MSS. 
(See Appendix, Note CXVI.) 

t Appendix, Note CXVII. 

X "Bowman's Journal." The number of men under com- 
mand of Capt. George is given in De Peyster to Haldimand, 
June -27, 1779 — Haldimand MSS. 

. § Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
83. The Colonel declares that George's company was a con- 
siderable reinforcement to the little party in the Kaskaskia 
fort. 

II George to Colonel Daniel Brodhead at Fort Pitt, Sept 
25, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 433 

prisoners, having, he says, more than he knew what 
to do with."^ Besides, he was not ignorant of the fact 
of the great desire of those who had famihes in De- 
troit to return home; and, not doubting that his 
good treatment of these volunteers — all inhabitants 
of Detroit — would promote his interests there, he, 
upon their application,t discharged the greater part 
of them (but none who had been with Indian parties 
against the American settlements) on their taking 
"the oath of neutrality;" that is to say, they were 
paroled. ''They went off," says the Colonel, ''huzzaing 
for the Congress and declaring though they could not 
fight against the Americans they would for them" 
(a few, it seems, remaining in Vincennes, joining 
Clark's force). This was on the sixteenth. There 
was sent with them a copy of the alliance between 
France and the United States. Clark was now much 
relieved; for, after so many of his volunteers had 
returned to their homes, his prisoners numbered almost 
as many as his own men. 

With those set at liberty, Clark sent a letter to 
Captain Lernoult at Detroit. It ended with a sarcasm 
doubtless irritating to that officer: 

"I learn by your letter to Governor Hamilton that 
you were very busy making new works. I am glad to 
hear it, as it will save the Americans some expense 
in building." The Colonel then added these words: 

* Clark to Gov. Henry, April 29, 1779 {Jefferson's Works, 
vol. I, p. 222 n.) 

tCapt. Joseph Bowman to Capt. R. B. Lernoult, March 
20, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. (See Appendix to our narra- 
tive, Note CXVIII.) 

28 



434 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

'The officers of Fort Patrick Henry solicit Cap- 
tain Lernoult to present their compHments to the of- 
ficers of his garrison/"'' 

From the moment of the arrival of Clark at Vin- 
cennes, the Piankeshaws and Kickapoos of the village 
had given him no concern. It is true they had met 
Hamilton in council and declared themselves thence- 
forth his followers, but the British commander very 
well understood it was more through fear than kindly 
regard. The Colonel declares that, having matters a 
little settled at Vincennes, he turned his attention to 
the Indians of the Wabash, calling together the Pian- 
keshaws, Kickapoos and others, who, as he had been 
informed (though erroneously), had refused to listen 
to the Lieutenant Governor. 'T knew," says Clark, 
"that Mr. Hamilton had endeavored to make them 
[the Indians] believe that we intended at last to take 
all their lands from them, and that, in case of suc- 
cess, we would show no greater mercy for those who 
did not join him than those that did. I endeavored 
to make myself acquainted with the arguments he 
used." 

"I made a very long speech to them in the Indian 
manner," continues the Colonel; "extolled them to 
the skies for their manly behavior and fidelity ; told 
them that we were so far from having any design 
on their lands that I looked upon it that we were 
then on their land where the fort stood, that we 
claimed no land in their country, that the first man 
that offered to take their lands by violence must strike 
the tomahawk in my head, that it was only necessary 

* See Appendix to our narrative, Note CXIX. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 435 

that I should be in their country during the war and 
keep a fort in it to drive off the EngHsh, who had a 
design against all people; after that, I might go to 
some place where I could get land to support me/' 

The treaty was concluded to the satisfaction of 
both parties. The Indians, the American commander 
declares, were much pleased at what they heard and 
they begged him to favor them the next day with his 
company at a council of theirs; so, on the sixteenth 
of March, he attended their meeting, — the great part 
of the time being spent in ceremony. Finally, they 
told the Colonel they had been meditating on what he 
had said to them the day before; that all the nations 
of the Wabash would be rejoiced to have him always 
in their country as their great father and protector; 
and as he had said he would claim no land of theirs 
they were determined that they would not lose him 
on that account, and had resolved to give him a piece, 
but larger than they had given to all the French at 
Vincennes. 

Clark was well pleased at the Indians' offer, as it 
gave him an opportunity to refuse the acceptance of it, 
— the farther to convince them that he did not want 
their land; but they appeared dejected at his refusal; 
whereupon, he waived any further talk on that or 
other subjects, recommending a "frolic," as he terms 
it, that night, "as the sky was clearer than ever." He 
then presented them with a quantity of tafia and pro- 
visions to make merry on and left them.* 

After the treaty with the Indians of the Wabash,t 
the American commander was gratified to see coming 

* See Appendix to our narrative, Note CXX. 
t The Miami Indians of Eel river, it seems, did not take, 
kindl}'- to the xA.merican cause {History of the Girtys, p. 107), 



436 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

into Vincennes and craving audience, some Chippewas 
and others that had l^een with Hamilton. The Colonel 
soon granted them a hearing. They begged him to 
excuse their blindness and take them into favor. After 
the warmest solicitations for mercy, Clark told them 
that the Big Knives were merciful, which proved them 
to be warriors ; that he would send belts and a speech 
to all the nations ; and that they [the savages present], 
after hearing of it, might do as they pleased; but 
[they] must blame themselves for future misfortunes. 
He then sent them oft. 

It was the opinion of Clark that nothing destroys 
the interest of Indians in one so soon as wavering 
sentiments or speeches that show the least fear. He, 
consequently, had observed, as he declares, one steady 
line of conduct among them. Hamilton who was 
almost deified by them being captured by the Colonel, 
it was a sufficient confirmation to the Indians of every- 
thing the latter had formerly said to them and gave 
great weight, in his view, to the speeches he intended 
to send them. Expecting that he would shortly be 
able to fulfill his threats with a body of troops suf- 
ficient to penetrate into any part of their country and 
by reducing Detroit bring them to his feet, he sent 
the following speech to the different tribes near the 
lakes, which were at war with the Americans : 

"To the Warriors of the Different Nations. Men and 
Warriors : — It is a long time since the Big Knives sent 
belts of peace among you soliciting of you not to listen to 
the bad talks and deceit of the English, as it would, at some 
future day tend to the destruction of your nations. You 
would not listen but joined the English against the Big 

doubtless because the residue of that nation at the head of the 
Maumee still adhered to the British. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 437 

Knives and spilt much blood of women and children. The 
Big Knives then resolved to show no mercy to any people 
that hereafter would refuse the belt of peace which should 
be offered, at the same time one of war. You remember last 
summer a great many people took me by the hand, but a few 
kept back their hearts. I also sent belts of peace and war 
among the nations to take their choice; some took the peace- 
belt others still listened to their great father (as they call 
him) at Detroit, and joined him to come to war against me. 
The Big Knives are warriors and look on the English as old 
women and all those that join them, and are ashamed when 
they fight them because they are no men. 

'T now send two belts to all the nations, — one for 
peace and the other for war. The one that is for war has 
your great English father's scalp tied to it and [is] made 
red with his blood. All you that call yourselves his children 
make your hatchets sharp and come out and revenge his 
blood on the Big Knives ; fight like men, that the Big Knives 
may not be ashamed when they fight you, that our old women 
may not tell us that we only fought squaws. If any of you 
are for taking the belt of peace, send the bloody belt back 
to me that I may know who to take by the hand as brothers; 
for, you may be assured that no peace for the future will be 
granted to those that do not lay down their arms immediately. 
It is as you will, — I do not care whether you are for peace 
or war, as I glory in war and want enemies to fight us as 
the English cannot fight us any longer, and are become like 
young children begging the Big Knives for mercy and a little 
bread to eat. This is the last speech you may ever expect 
from the Big Knives ; the next thing will be the tomahawk. 
And you may expect in four moons to see your women and 
children given to the dogs to be eat, while those nations that 
have kept their words with me will flourish and grow like 
the willow trees on the river-banks under the care and nour- 
ishment of their father, the Big Knives," 

Now that Clark had fixed all matters at Vincennes 
"so as to promise future advantage," having sent let- 
ters to Colonel John Bowman, the County Lieutenant 
of Kentucky County, solociting him to make some 



438 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

preparatory movements towards joining him when 
called on, with all the force he could raise, he made 
preparations to return to Kaskaskia.* 

Lieutenant Brashier was to be left in command 
of Fort Patrick Henry, and with him forty picked 
men, sergeants and corporals included. Under him 
were Lieutenants Bayley and Chapline. The whole 
were to remain until relieved from Kaskaskia. Cap- 
tain Helm was given command of Vincennes, in civil 
matters. He was also made Superintendent of Indian 
affairs. Moses Henry was appointed Indian Agent 
and Patrick Kennedy quartermaster.f 

On the nineteenth of March, orders were issued 
by Clark to have six boats put in readiness to start 
for Kaskaskia. Two of these were the Willing and 
Running Fly — the latter a small craft. Captain Mc- 
Carty was given command of the Willing, "now 
made perfectly complete ;" while a sergeant and six 
men were to manage the Running Fly. Captain 
Worthington and Lieutenant Keller, and two ensigns 
were to have charge, each of them, of a boat.J With 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 
82. "Bowman's Journal" — entry of March 19, 1779. (See 
Appendix to our narrative, Note CXXI.) 

t Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
163, 164. "Bowman's Journal," of the date March 20, 1779. 

Jin "Bowman's Journal" — Department of State MSS. 
— the names of the two ensigns are given as Montgomery, 
and Lawvin ; in the printed Journal, as Montgomery and 
Lorraine, and Lieutenant Chapline appears erroneously as 
"Chapman" (see Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 110). 
In the place last cited, as well as in the Department of State 
MSS., Lieutenant Keller is erroneously spoken of as "Captain 
Keller," 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 439 

them were to be sent all the prisoners yet remaining 
in Vincennes, as well as all the goods — "the spoils of 
the war" — not previously disposed of, including such 
as had been set aside for a specific purpose.* The 
brass field-piece captured from Hamilton was also to 
be taken along. f 

On the twentieth, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, 
Clark started with all his force (save those left to 
guard Fort Patrick Henry and the few who had been 
charged with other duties) for Kaskaskia. Out of 
abundant caution eighty of his men whom he styles 
his ''guard" were armed and equipped for instant and 
effective service ; for, besides the danger which might 
impend from an unknown and concealed enemy, there 
were his prisoners to be watched.^ 

Says one of his men who did not go along and 
who noted the incident at the moment of starting: 
"The boats, after much rejoicing, are now out of 
sight. God send them a good and safe passage !"§ 
The trip of three hundred and fifty miles was made 
without accident; and the soldiers, after a campaign 
of about seven weeks' duration were happy in getting 

* That goods were taken along of those secured from the 
enemy, is made certain by the statement to be found in the 
History of the Girtys, p. 106. Other evidence will hereafter 
be adduced. 

f History of the Girtys, loc. cit. 

X Clark in his Memoir erroneously gives seventy as the 
number of his "guard" and speaks of them as though there 
were none beside them taken along. 

§ "Bowman's Journal" in Department of State MSS., 
where the wording is different from what is printed m. Clark's 
Campaign in the Illinois, p. 110. (See Appendix to our nar- 
rative, Note CXXII.) 



440 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

back to the Illinois.'^ The American commander 
found, on his return, that the presence of Captain 
George and his company, because of the protection they 
gave, afforded much satisfaction to the inhabitants of 
Kaskaskia.f And these new friends received with 
great joy their victorius countrymen. 

"The season of the year," wrote one of Clark's 
men soon after, ''when the expedition against Vin- 
cennes was undertaken, and the good conduct of those 
engaged in it, show what can be done by an army, 
let the difficulties be what they may. Perseverance 
and steadfastness will surmount all obstacles, as is 
shown in the acts of our brave commander, and all 
his officers, not forgetting his soldiers. Although 
a handful in comparison to other armies, they have 
done themselves and the cause they were fighting for, 
credit and honor ; and they deserve a place in history 
that their posterity may know the difficulties their 
forefathers went through for their liberty and free- 
dom ; particularly the back-settlers of Virginia may 
bless the day they sent out such a commander, such 
officers and men — to root out the vipers that were 
every day ravaging on their women and children; 
which I hope will soon be at an end, as the leaders 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 164. 
(See Appendix to our narrative, Note CXXIII.) 

t "During my absence," wrote the Colonel, "Captain Robert 
George, who now commands the company formerly com- 
manded by Captain Willing, had returned from New Orleans, 
which greatly added to our strength. It gave great satisfac- 
tion to the inhabitants, when acquainted with the protection 
which was given them." (Clark to Jefferson, April 29, 1779 — 
Jeiferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222 n.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 441 

of these murderers will soon be disposed of by Con- 
gress."* 

* From "Bowman's Journal" as printed (see Clark's Cam- 
paign in the Illinois, p. 111.) I have not followed the words 
of the writer closely, but have endeavored to give the sense 
intended to be conveyed by him. (Consult, in this connection, 
Appendix to our narrative, Note CXXII.) 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE Delaware Indians inhabiting the White 
river country had, most of them, before the 
capture of Hamilton and his force, joined the 
British; but now, that matters had taken a decided 
change, a few concluded it best to make peace with 
the conquerors, or at least to be on friendly terms with 
them. 

A party of these savages visited Kaskaskia; but, 
"getting drunk with some loose young fellows" of 
the town, they made threats, forgetting their peace- 
able resolutions. Their menaces were met by like 
demonstrations on the other side. Thereupon one of 
the Indians flashed his gun at a woman. This aroused 
the animosity of the Creoles and two of the Delawares 
were shot down and the rest pursued by the townsmen 
some distance down the Kaskaskia, with the result of 
another being killed and some wounded. Clark, it 
seems, while returning from Vincennes, on his way up 
that river had observed some fresh Indian camps, 
which it was plain had been left in great haste. Upon 
his arrival at Kaskaskia, the mystery was soon cleared 
up when the circumstances were explained to him of 
the pursuit and shooting of the fleeing Delawares. 
Some days afterwards, an express arrived from 
Vincennes, bringing the intelligence from Captain 
Helm, that a party of traders who were going by land 
to the Falls of the Ohio had been killed and their 
goods taken by White river Delawares, and that it 
appeared their designs were altogether hostile, as he 
had learned (but this was an erroneous report) they 

(442) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 442 

had received a belt from the great council of their 
nation — that of their people residing on the Mus- 
kingum, to take up the hatchet. Clark quickly decided 
it was cause for war with these savages (he was really 
glad to find some cause for attacking them, as he had 
all along considered them enemies) ; he therefore, sent 
back the express to Vincennes with orders to Captain 
Helm at once to attack them. Clark declares that 
upon the first arrival of the Americans in the country 
they had ''hatched up a kind of peace" with them ; but 
he always knew they were for open war, yet he never 
could get a proper excuse before for driving them 
from the country, which he knew they would be loth 
to leave, and that the other Indians wished them away, 
as "they were great hunters and killed up their game." 

"I was sorry for the loss of our men," subsequently 
wrote Clark, "otherwise pleased at what had happened, 
as it would give me an opportunity of showing the 
other Indians the horrid fate of those who would dare 
to make war on the Big Knife ; and, to excel them in 
barbarity I knew was and is the only way to make 
war and gain a name among the Indians. I immedi- 
ately sent orders to Vincennes to make war on the 
Delawares, to use every means in their [Captain Helm 
and his men's] power to destroy them, to show no 
kind of mercy to the men, but to spare the women and 
children. This order was executed without delay, 
their camps were attacked in every quarter where they 
could be found ; many fell and others were brought to 
Vincennes and put to death, [and] the women and 
children secured. 

"They immediately applied for reconciliation, but 
were informed that I had ordered the war . . . 



444 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and that they [the Americans] dare not lay down the 
tomahawk without permission from me; but that if 
the Indians were agreed, no more blood should be 
spilt until an express should go to Kaskaskia, which 
was immediately sent. I refused to make peace with 
the Delawares, and let them know that we never 
trusted those who had once violated their faith, but if 
they had a mind to be quiet, they might, and if they 
could get any of their neighboring Indians to be 
security for their good behavior, I would let them 
alone; but that I cared very little about it, privately 
directing Captain Helm how to manage. 

"A council was called of all the Indians in the 
neighborhood ; my answer was made public ; the Pian- 
keshaws took on themselves to answer for the future 
good conduct of the Delawares ; and the Tobacco's 
son, in a long speech, informed them of the baseness of 
their conduct, and how richly they had deserved the 
severe blow they had met with ; that he had given them 
permission to settle that country but not to kill his 
friends ; that they now saw the Big Knife had refused 
to make peace with them, but that he (the Tobacco's 
son) had become security for their good conduct, and 
that they might go and mind their hunting, and that 
if they ever did any more mischief — pointing to the 
sacred bow he held in his hand — ... he himself 
would for the future chastise them. Thus ended the 
war between us and the Delawares in this quarter, 
much to our advantage, as the nations about said that 
we were as brave as the Indians, and not afraid to 
put an enemy to death."* 

* Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
164, 165. But Clark in writing to Mason {Clark's Campaign 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 445 

Upon Clark's arrival at Kaskaskia from his success- 
ful campaign against Hamilton, things in general 
seemed to be tranquil (excepting only the hostility of 
the Dela wares, just mentioned) ; so he resolved to spend 
a few weeks in diversions, which he had not done since 
his arrival in the Illinois; but his resolution came to 
naught, as he found it impossible to throw off the care 
and anxiety which continually beset him. Then there 
was the reduction of Detroit which he had continually 
in view, not as a motive for applause but from a desire 
to establish a profound peace on the frontiers. He 
was, as he fondly imagined (but in this, he was un- 
doubtedly mistaken) so well acquainted with its situa- 
tion, strength and influence that, in case he was not 
disappointed in the number of troops he expected, he 
accounted the place his own."^ He would rendezvous 
at Vincennes, marching them up the Wabash — , such 
were the plans he revolved in his mind. 

"Receiving letters from Colonel Bowman at Ken- 
tucky," says the commandant, "informing me that I 
might expect him to reinforce me with three hundred 
men whenever I should call on him if it lay in his 
power, at the same time receiving intelligence from 
Colonel Montgomery, — I now thought my success 
reduced to a certainty. I immediately set about mak- 
ing provision for the expedition, to be ready against 

in the Illinois, p. 83) was, for some reason, careful not to 
enter upon a description of the bloody work performed by 
Capt. Helm, as a retaliation. All he says is : "The war was 
carried on pretty equally on both sides for several months; 
but they [the Delawares], at last thought proper to solicit 
a peace." 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
loc. cit. 



446 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

the arrival of troops, to give the enemy as Httle time as 
possible to complete the new fortifications I knew they 
were then about."* Clark sent an express to Colonel 
Bowman desiring him to join him at Vincennes on the 
twentieth of June with all the force he could possibly 
raise, agreeable to his letters to him. He also sent 
out one of his captains among the different nations 
of Indians to receive their congratulations on his late 
success, and the submission of those that had resolved 
to desert the English, and to get fresh intelligence 
from Detroit. 

The civil department in the Illinois had hitherto 
robbed the Commandant of much of his time he 
thought ought to have been given to military matters ; 
but he was now likely to be soon relieved by John Todd, 
who had been appointed (as Clark gladly learned) 
lieutenant of the county of Illinois, with civil jurisdic- 
tion of much importance — more, in fact, than had ever 
before been delegated to an officer of the kind in Vir- 
ginia.f I "was anxious," wrote Clark, "for his arri- 
val and happy, in his appointment, as the greatest in- 
timacy and friendship existed between us." 

Clark was now in high spirits. On the twenty- 
ninth of April, he wrote the Governor of Virginia at 
considerable length, not only giving him many details, 
but again answering the letters received by him at Vin- 

* Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 
83, 84. The intelligence from Montgomery was to the effect 
that he (Montgomery) would be able to bring a considerable 
force of recruits by way of the Tennessee river, and that he 
had been commissioned a lieutenant-colonel. 

t As to the fiction that Todd was one of Clark's soldiers 
on his expedition to the Illinois, see Appendix to our narrative, 
Note CXXIV. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC: 447 

cennes at the hands of William Myres, the express 
sent from Williamsburg ; — why this was done will 
now appear. ''A few days ago," said Clark, "I re- 
ceived certain intelligence of William Myres, my ex- 
press to you, being killed near the Falls of the Ohio, 
— news truly disagreeable to me, as I fear many of 
my letters will fall into the hands of the enemy at 
Detroit, although some of them, as I learn were found 
in the woods torn in pieces."* What the Colonel 
feared, actually happened; his journal, reciting the 
particulars of his march to Vincennes, and the surrend- 
ering to him of Fort Sackville with its garrison and 
stores, was captured, together with all the letters in 
possessions of the express, several of which afterward- 
found their way to Detroit. f It is evident, therefore, 
there were white men with the Indians on that occa- 
sion. 

The Colonel also wrote that he was proud to hear 
that Congress intended putting its forces on the fron- 
tiers imder the direction of the Governor of Virginia, 
"A small army," said he, "from Pittsburgh, conducted 
with spirit, may easily take Detroit and put an end to 
the Indian war. Those Indians, who are active against 
us are the Six Nations [Mingoes], part of the Shaw- 
anese, the Miamies, and about half of the Chippewas, 
Ottawas, lowas, and Pottawattamies, bordering on the 
lakes. Those nations who have treated with me, have 
since behaved very well ; they are the Piankeshaws, 
Kikapoos, Weas, of the Wabash river ; the Kaskaskias, 
Peorians, Mitchigamies, Sacs and Foxes, lowas, Illi- 

* Clark to the Governor of Virginia, April 29, 1779 — 
Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222 n. 

t See Appendix to our narrative, Note CXXV ; also Note 
CXXVII. 



448 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

nois, and Pottawattamies, of the Mississippi and Illi- 
nois rivers. Part of the Chippewas have also treated 
and are peaceable. I continually keep agents among 
them to watch their motions and keep them peaceably 
inclined. Many of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, and their 
confederates, are, I fear, ill disposed. It would be 
well if Colonel Montgomery should give them a dress- 
ing as he comes down the Tennessee. There can be 
no peace expected from many nations while the English 
are at Detroit. I strongly suspect they will turn their 
arms against the Illinois, as they will be encouraged. 
I shall always be on my guard, watching every oppor- 
tunity to take advantage of the enemy; and, if I am 
ever able to muster six or seven hundred men, I shall 
give them a shorter distance to come and fight me than 
this place." 

There was one circumstance very distressing to the 
country, Clark thought, and that was the discredit 
which American paper money, had fallen into in the 
Illinois, — caused by the great number of traders who 
had come there in his absence, "each outbidding the 
other, giving prices unknown in this country by five 
hundred per cent.," said the Colonel, "by which the 
people conceived it to be of no value, and both French 
and Spaniards refused to take a farthing of it." Pro- 
visions had advanced three prices in two months, and 
supplies were not to be obtained in any other way than 
by the commander giving his own bonds, or exchang- 
ing goods,* or taking what he wanted by force. Sev- 
eral of the merchants were advancing considerable 

* That is, such as he had brought from Vincennes taken 
from the enemy. (See History of the Girtys, p. 106.) These 
goods did not include, of course, such as had been set aside 
for the expected reinforcement from the east. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 449 

amounts of their own property rather than the service 
should suffer, by which Clark was sensible they would 
lose greatly, unless some method was taken to raise 
the credit of the money in circulation or a sum be sent 
to [New] Orleans for the payment of the expenses of 
this place, which would at once reduce the price of 
every species of provisions, money being of little ser- 
vice to them unless it would pass at the posts they 
trade at. The Colonel said he had drawn some bills 
on Mr. Pollock in New Orleans, as he had no money 
with him. Pollock Vv'ould accept the bills, but had not 
the cash to pay them off, though the sums were trifling ; 
"so that," said Clark, "we have little credit to expect 
from that quarter-"* 

Clark assured the Virginia Governor that he would 
take every step he possibly could for laying up a sufli- 
cient quantity of provisions, f and he hoped the Execu- 
tive of the State would immediately send him an ex- 
press with instructions. Public expenses, he declared, 
had "hitherto been very low" and might continue so, 
in the Illinois, if a correspondence was fixed at New 
Orleans for payment of the expenses of the country, 
or if gold and silver could be sent. "I am glad," says 
Clark, "to hear of Colonel Todd's appointment. I 
think the government has taken the only step that it 

* History of the Girtys, in the place last cited, confirms 
this statement. 

tMay 22, 1779, Clark drew for $300 "in favor of Mr. 
Rapicault or order," on the Treasurer of Virginia or Oliver 
Pollock at New Orleans, "for supplies, etc., furnished garri- 
son" at Kaskaskia. Also, on the next day, he drew in favor 
of the same for $617, on the Treasurer of Virginia "for the 
use of the Commonwealth," (Calendar of Virginia State 
Papers, vol. I, p. 320.) 

29 



450 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

could to make this region flourish. No other regula- 
tion would have suited the people."'^ 

It was Clark's opinion that one regiment of troops 
would be able to clear the Mississippi, and do great 
damage to the British interests in Florida. If they 
[the American soldiers] would properly conduct them- 
selves, he thought they might perhaps gain the affec- 
tion of the people so as to raise a sufficient force ''to 
give a shock to Pensacola." ''Our alliance," he added, 
"with France has entirely devoted this people to our 
interest." "By your instructions to me," continues 
Clark, "I find you put no confidence in General Mc- 
intosh's taking Detroit, as you encourage me to attempt 
it if possible. It had been twice in my power. Had I 
been able to raise five hundred men when I first arrived 
in the country, or when I was at Vincennes could have 
secured my prisoners and only have had three hundred 
good men, I should have attempted it, and I since 
learn there could have been no doubt of success, as, 
by some gentlemen lately arrived from that post, we 
are informed that the town and country kept three 
days' feasting and diversions on hearing of my success 
against Mr. Hamilton ; and they were so certain of my 
embracing the fair opportunity of possessing myself 
of that post that the merchants and others provided 
many necessaries for us on our arrival, — the garrison, 
consisting of only eighty men, not daring to stop their 
diversions. They are now completing a new fort; 

* The "regulation" referred to by the Colonel was the 
creation of the county of the Illinois and the appointment of 
John Todd as its Lieutenant; the news of which had reached 
Clark while he was yet in Vincennes, by the hand of William 
Myers. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 451 

and I fear it will be too strong for any force I shall 
ever be able to raise in this country.''* 

Notwithstanding Clark's letter dated the day pre- 
vious to the last one of April, was intended to apprise 
the Governor of Virginia (now that Myres had been 
killed on his way, with the first one written) of his suc- 
cess at Vincennes, yet as early as the eighteenth of 
May, as already shown, the news had reached Wil- 
liamsburg; and the letter of Governor Henry to the 
Virginia House of Delegates of that date gave the in- 
formation officially to that body. "Unfortunately," 
said the Governor, ''the letters from Colonel Clark, 
containing no doubt particular accounts of this affair, 
were in possession of an express who was murdered 
by a party of Indians on his way through Kentucky 
to this place. The letters as I am informed were de- 
stroyed. As the facts which I have mentioned are 
sufficiently authenticated, I thought it material that 
they should be communicated to the Assembly. "f 

On the next day. Governor Henry also wrote tg 
his friend, Richard Henry Lee: 

"Governor Hamilton of Detroit is a prisoner, with 
the judge of that country, several captains, lieuten- 
ants, and all the British who accompanied Hamilton in 
his conquest of the Wabash. Our brave Colonel Clark 
(sent out from our militia), with one hundred Virgin- 

* Clark to the Governor of Virginia, April 29, 1779. The 
messenger intrusted with this letter was one St. Vrain, a 
resident of Kaskaskia. {Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222 n.) 
The instructions which Clark speaks of as having been re- 
ceived by him from Gov. Henry were sent by the latter in 
care of Myers, who, as we have seen, delivered his package 
to the Colonel at Vincennes upon his arrival in the Willing. 

t Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, pp. 319, 320. 
Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. HI, p. 241. 



452 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

ians besieged the Governor in a strong fort with several 
hundreds, and with small arms alone fairly took the 
whole corps prisoners and sent them into our interior 
country. This is a most gallant action and I trust will 
secure our frontiers in great measure. The goods 
taken by Clark are said to be of immense amount, and 
I hope will influence the Indians to espouse our inter- 
ests. Detroit now totters ; and if Clark had a few of 
Mcintosh's forces the place would be ours directly. 
I have lately sent the French there all the state papers, 
translated into their language, by the hands of a priest, 
who I believe has been very active. I cannot give you 
the other particulars of Clark's success, his messenger 
to me being killed and the letters torn by the Indians."* 
For the greater security of the inhabitants of the 
county of Illinois, a Virginia law w^as passed providing 
for the raising of a troop of horse. This was in May. 
The troop was to consist of one captain, one lieutenant, 
one cornet, and thirty-two privates. The same law 
declared that "every soldier who enlisted into the corps 
of volunteers commanded by Colonel George Rogers 
Clark and continued therein till the taking of the sev- 
eral posts in the Illinois country" should, "at the end 

* Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. II, pp. 30, 31. It will be 
noticed, from the concluding words of the Governor, that he 
had not, at date of writing, received Clark's letter from Kas- 
kaskia, of April 29, giving details of the capture of Hamilton, 
Twenty-one days were too few for its transmission by express 
from Kaskaskia to Williamsburg. It is not, therefore, at all 
surprising that Gov. Henry (relying solely upon reports) 
should have underestimated Clark's force when the latter 
attacked Fort Sackville and overestimated Hamilton's. Mc- 
intosh's forces which he speaks of were really Brodhead's ; 
as the former was then no longer in command at Fort Pitt 
gf the Western Department, 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 453 



of the war, be entitled to a grant of two hundred acres 
of any unappropriated lands" within that Common- 
wealth. And every able-bodied freeman who should 
enlist, or who, having enlisted for a period unexpired, 
should re-enlist to serve during the war, among the 
forces ordered for the protection and defense of the 
county of Illinois, should receive a bounty of seven 
hundred and fifty dollars, and at the end of the war, 
should be entitled to one hundred acres of land. 

John Todd, who had been commissioned a lieuten- 
ant of Illinois coimty, did not reach Kaskaskia from 
his home in Kentucky until the month last mentioned. 
When he came Colonel Clark was "happily rid of a 
piece of trouble" that he "had no delight in" — the 
administration of civil affairs. But the powers granted 
to Todd were greater than had ever before been given 
the Lieutenant of a county by Virginia, and greater 
than were afterward given to such an officer by that 
State. He could even pardon all offenses except mur- 
der and treason."'' 

The reinforcement which was to be recruited by 
Colonel Montgomery for Clark to enable the latter to 
fill up his battalion was only ready to move in March, 
lyyg^ — ouc huudrcd of his men under Major Slaughter 
having marched in January for the Falls of the Ohio •, 
but had it not been that, early in the year the Cher- 
okees and other southern Indians became .hostile, ex- 
tending their ravages from Georgia to Pennsylvania, 
a regiment (or battalion) of twelve-months men which 
had been enlisted for Clark, in addition to the force 

* Consult in this connection the Act creating Illinois 
county, Hening's Virginia Statutes at Large, vol. IX, p. 552, 
and a sketch of, and the Instructions to Todd in Mason's 
Early Chicago and Illinois, pp. 286, 289-294. 



454 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

raised by Montgomery, dispatched to him; but now, 
for the cause just mentioned, they were withheld. 

Montgomery, after getting together as many more 
men as possible, numbering, however, only one hun- 
dred and fifty, started for the Illinois, but he engaged 
an enemy before reaching his destination not antici- 
pated when his force was enlisted. It happened in this 
wise. There was a settlement of renegade Cherokees 
on the Tennessee, at and below the mouth of the Chick- 
amauga. These Indians were now exceedingly hostile ; 
and a considerable force under Evan Shelby prepared 
to march against their towns. 

Montgomery, as he was to go down the Tennessee, 
could, with little trouble, join Shelby on the proposed 
expedition ; and he actually did reinforce him with his 
whole party. The general rendezvous was at the 
mouth of Big creek, near the present town of Rogers- 
ville, in Tennessee. The army floated down the river 
for three hundred miles, attacked the savages, killed 
some of their warriors, burnt their towns, and 
destroyed their provisions.* Montgomery then contin- 
ued down the Tennessee, reaching Kaskaskia by way 
of that river, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, on the 

* The idea expressed by Clark in his letter of the twenty- 
ninth of April, to the Governor of Virginia, that "it would 
be well if Colonel Montgomery should give them [the Chero- 
kees] a dressing as he comes down the Tennessee, thus be- 
came, with the aid of Shelby, a reality. And it here may be 
said that the capture of Hamilton and the "dressing" given 
the Cherokees, effectually put an end to any efforts put forth 
because of the plan sent by the first mentioned in the previ- 
ous December to the British Indian agent Stuart, "to reconcile 
the Southern Indians with the Shawanese and other Northern 
nations, and to concert a general invasion of the frontiers." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 455 

twentieth of May, but with not half the number of 
men expected by Clark. This was a great disappoint- 
ment to the Colonel. 

Clark still resolved to rendezvous at Vincennes, 
thinking that, if he could raise three hundred men, he 
would risk the undertaking against Detroit ; as the new 
fortification there, although the work was being vigor- 
ously prosecuted by Captain Lernoult, was not com- 
pleted, nor could it be according to the plan, before 
he could reach the place. 

"We had," says Clark, "a prospect of a consider- 
able reinforcement from Kentucky, and we yet flatter- 
ed ourselves that something might be done: at least 
we might maneuver in such a manner as to keep the 
enemy in hot water and in suspense and prevent their 
doing our frontiers much damage. We went on pro- 
curing supplies and did not lose sight of our object." 

The news of the success of the Americans and their 
volunteer allies of the Illinois against Hamilton's force 
in Vincennes, although more than a month in reaching 
the Kentucky settlements, was every where hailed with 
the liveliest expressions of joy among them; and when 
finally, it became known generally throughout Virginia, 
there was great delight manifested, especially in the 
border counties. It was, indeed, a source of pleasure 
to the whole country. But Governor Jefferson would 
wait for direct information from Clark before notify- 
ing Washington oflicially of Hamilton's capture. Past 
the middle of June, he wrote the Commander-in-chief : 
'T have the pleasure to enclose you the particulars of 
Colonel Clark's success against Vincennes as stated in 
his letter lately received ; the messenger, with his first 
letter, having been killed. I fear it will be impossible 



456 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

for Colonel Clark to be so strengthened as to enable 
him to do what he desires. Indeed, the express [St. 
Vrain] who brought this letter, gives us reason to fear 
Vincennes is in danger from a large body of Indians 
collected to attack it, and said, when he came from 
Kaskaskia, to be within thirty leagues of the place."* 

Jefferson's reply to the Colonel upon receiving the 
letter was brief and (purposely) vague, but easily un- 
derstood by Clark. The Governor knew the danger of 
its transmission and, instead of a lengthy answer, gave 
St. Vrain, the messenger, full verbal instructions to be 
repeated to the Colonel. The real meaning of what 
he wrote was that his (Clark's) wishes would be at- 
tended to ; that much solicitation would be felt for the 
result of the expedition to Detroit (by way of the 
Wabash) ; that it would at least delay any movement 
towards the frontier by the enemy from that post ; and 
that, if successful, it would have, ultimately, an im- 
portant bearing in establishing the northwestern bound- 
ary of the United States. f 

The rapid transmission of the news of Hamilton's 
capture to Detroit was in striking contrast to the slow- 
ness of the information reaching the Virginia author- 

* Jefferson to Washington, from Williamsburg, June 23, 
1779. {Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 221). The letter men- 
tioned by Jefferson as ''lately received" was the one written 
by Clark April 29, after his return to Kaskaskia from Vin- 
cennes. But Washington by the reception of "Bowman's 
Journal" had already been put in possession of more par- 
ticulars concerning the march of Clark and his capture of 
Hamilton than Jefferson had obtained. There was no foun- 
dation for the report brought by St. Vrain of a large body 
of hostile Indians being within thirty leagues of Vincennes. 

t Only a fragment of the letter has been preserved. (See 
Appendix to our narrative, Note CXXVI.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 457 

ities in Williamsburg. But Captain Chesne (with two 
Wyandot Indians) safely arriving at the first mentioned 
place, in the first half of March, made his report. 
It was as a thunderbolt from a clear sky to Captain 
Lernoult — a "most unlucky shake," as he termed it. 
Such a catastrophe he had not dreamed of. That Vin- 
cennes had been ''retaken by Colonel Clark," and the 
Governor and whole garrison made prisoners, was 
astounding news. The Captain soon dispatched the 
armed sloop Felicity to Fort Erie with a letter to Col- 
onel Batton at Niagara, conveying the surprising in- 
formation to the commandant,* who lost no time in 
transmitting it to General Haldimand. 

As the loss of Fort Sackville opened a new road 
for the Americans to his post by the Maumee, Lernoult 
urgently requested that a strong reinforcement be sent 
him from Niagara, especially as his new fort was not 
yet in a state to be properly defended. "The loss of 
Governor Hamilton," said the Detroit commander, "is 
a most feeling one to me ; I find the burden heavy with- 
out assistance ; it requires, I confess, superior abilities 
and a better constitution [than I have] ; I will do m^ 
best however".f 

The Canadians in Detroit received the account of 
Captain Chesne with unbounded satisfaction. Lern- 
oult declared they were "all rebels to a man." The 
Captain needed help upon his new fortification. "The 
Canadians," he wrote, "exceedingly assuming on our 
bad success and weakness, not one of them will lend a 
hand."t It was true then what Clark subsequently 
wrote : "We are informed that the town and country 

* Lernoult to Bokon, March 26, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 

tid. 

tid. 



458 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

[Detroit] kept three days' feasting and diversions on 
hearing of my success against Mr. Hamilton." 

It may be presum.ed that the Canadians sent home 
from Vincennes by the Colonel, on their parole, upon 
reaching Detroit added not a little to the excitement. 
The Colonel declares that after they had gone he had 
spies constantly "to and from Detroit," and that he 
learned by them that the returned prisoners "answered 
every purpose he could have wished for by prejudic- 
ing their friends in favor of America. So certain were 
the inhabitants of that post of my marching immedi- 
ately against it, that they made provision for me in 
defiance of the garrison." But he added: ^'Many of 
them have paid dearly for it since." "We learned," 
are his words years after, "that they made great havoc 
with the British interest on their return . . . pub- 
licly saying that they had taken an oath not to fight 
against Americans, but they had not sworn not to fight 
for them, etc. ; and matters were carried to such a 
hight, that the commanding officer [Lernoult] thought 
it prudent not to take notice of any thing that was said 
or done." However, the commandant was not so com- 
plaisant, as we know, and as his words to the Niagara 
commander plainly indicate. He soon began to repress 
the ardor of the "rebels," having received full authority 
for so doing from the Commander-in-chief, who wrote 
him on the thirteenth of June: 

"Sir : — Having certain Intelligence that many of the 
inhabitants in your neighborhood are not only disaffected to 
Government, but in the present critical situation of public 
affairs, may possibly prove dangerous enemies to the King. 
I have judged it necessary for His Majesty's service, hereby 
to authorize you to apprehend any person or persons whom 
you may have cause to believe is in any manner directly or 
indirectly aiding, or abetting the rebels or their allies, either 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 459 

with provisions, intelligence or otherwise, and that you imme- 
diately send them to Niagara, to be detained there or for- 
warded to Carleton Island as Lt. Col. Bolton may judge best 
for the public service. 

"And it is also your duty to require, and obtain from all 
persons of doubtful character, such hostages as may effectually 
prevent them or any part of their family from taking an 
active part against His Majesty's Government, or the troops 
under your command."* 

There were added to the forces in Detroit late in 
the Spring two hundred men from Niagara, mostly 
regulars ; a few, however, were "prisoners who were 
bought of the Indians and made soldiers of." To add 
to the security of Detroit, one of the largest of the 
armed vessels upon Lake Erie was stationed at the 
mouth of the Maumee to gain intelligence of any far- 
ther movement of Clark, and to convey the news 
quickly to Captain Lernoult, — also to render any other 
necessary assistance on that line of communication. 

It will be readily presumed that, of all the precau- 
tions taken by Captain Lernoult to guard against the 
capture of Detroit by the Americans who might come 
either from Pittsburgh or Vincennes, — to hurry the 
work on his new fort was the one which engaged his 
chief attention. He did not slacken his efforts in that 
regard whatever else might seem to demand his time. 

Early in April, General Haldimand dispatched to 
Niagara and Detroit Captain Brehm, his aid-de-camp, 
to look into affairs to the westward. To Captain Lern- 
oult, the General wrote: "Anxious to be exactly in- 
formed as soon as practicable, of the true state of 
things in the Upper Country, I send Captain Brehm, 
my aid-de-camp, as far as Detroit; and it is my re- 

* Haldimand MSS. 



460 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

quest you would open yourself to him with the utmost 
freedom as to a person in whom you may safely con- 
fide upon all matters which concern the King's service 
in those parts. Captain Brehm is directed to give you 
my orders respecting your post, which he is to deliver 
you in writing, signed with his own hand, and to which 
you will in every part thereof exactly conform your- 
self".* 

Captain Brehm did not reach Detroit until the 
twenty-fifth of May. Three days thereafter, he sent 
his first letter to the Commander-in-chief. To him, 
Lernoult "declared that the arrival of the two hun- 
dred men at his post had made a great alteration in 
the inhabitants and even among the Indians ; the for- 
mer, before that, were insolent and almost daring in 
their behavior." "The rebels," continued Brehm, 
"having spread among all the Western or Wabash or 
[and] Illinois Indians by some disaffected savages 
[the report] that the French, Spanish (even Germans) 
and Americans are all joined together to drive the 
Enghsh out of America; [and this] has not only an 
effect among the Indians, but likewise among the 
French from the Illinois and Wabash through this 
whole country." But Captain Brehm assured the Com- 
mander-in-chief that Captain Lernoult was not idle in 
counteracting the designs of the "rebels." As to the 
condition of the new fort at Detroit, the writer de- 
clared it was very much advanced; and, if it could be 
finished before being attacked, it would be very ten- 
able.f He wrote some days after that Lernoult and 

*Haldimand to Lernoult, April 8, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. 

t Brehm to Haldimand, May 28, 1779. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 461 

his garrison were very busy in working upon the fort 
— "they have already finished a bomb-proof magazine 
and store-house and are now making barracks for 
officers and men all to be small-shell proof."* 
. The general effect produced by the capture of Ham- 
ilton and his force was expressed in the clearest man- 
ner by one at Detroit who fully comprehended how 
matters stood a few months afterward with the Indian 
allies of Britain: ''[It] has not only discouraged many 
tribes well disposed, but inclined others who were 
wavering, to stand neuter, so that a force to act in con- 
junction with them appears necessary to engage them 
again to act with vigor against the enemy."f 

It was over a month after Hamilton's surrender 
before the tidings reached Michilimackinac. De 
Peyster was astounded. 

On the. arrival of Captain Langlade at Green Bay 
from his attempt to induce the Ottawas and Chippewas 
at the Grand river to march to the aid of Hamilton, 
he received from the latter an order acquainting him 
that he w^ould winter at Vincennes, and requiring him 
and Gautier to join him early in the Spring, by way of 
the Illinois river. The Captain accordingly set out 
with some Indians, in good time, going by way of 
Milwaukee, "where he received accounts of Mr. Hamil- 
ton being taken, when the Indians disheartened, would 
proceed no farther;" so the Captain returned. De 
Peyster was informed by Langlade, who went to Mich- 
ilimackinac, arriving there on the twelfth of May, that 
a Canadian at the head of twenty horsemen was travel- 
ing through the Milwaukee and Sac country, at the 

* Same to same, June 23, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 
t Alexander McKee to Haldimand, July 16, 1779. — Haldi- 
mand MSS. 



462 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

time of his visit, purchasing horses for Colonel Clark, 
— telling the Indians that the Colonel would be at 
Green Bay soon with three hundred men. Also on the 
twentieth of February, Mr. Chevalier, of St. Joseph, 
wrote De Peyster, that the ''rebels" had employed 
Canadians to purchase horses in the neighborhood of 
Chicago, to mount their cavalry. Gautier, upon re- 
ceiving Hamilton's order, gathered together a consider- 
able band of Winnebagoes ahd Menomonees ; marched 
with them down the Wisconsin but was turned back 
by the Sacs and Foxes, before news reached him of 
the surrender of Hamilton. 

''I do not care," wrote De Peyster on the thirteenth 
of May, to General Haldimand, ''how soon Mr. Clark 
appears, provided he comes by Lake Michigan and the 
Indians prove staunch; and, above all, that the Cana- 
dians do not follow the example of their brethren at the 
lUinois, who have joined the rebels to a man. I am in 
hopes that their connection at Montreal will be a check 
upon them. If I had armed vessels I could make them 
constantly coast Lake Michigan to awe the Indian^ 
and prevent the rebels building boats. There is a small 
sloop here, as already reported, but no sailors, nor will 
my present garrison admit of any detachment, it not 
being by one-half sufficient to do the necessary duty 
here. I shall allow the traders to come to this post; 
but if things do not greatly change, I will not let one 
go the Green Bay road. The Sacs and Foxes seem 
easy about the matter; but they will soon open their 
eyes, if it is possible effectually to restrain that trade." 
The commandant adds : "If Detroit should be taken, 
it is evident we would have but a dismal prospect".* 
' * Haldimand MSS. " '" 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 463 

The first of June, De Peyster wrote that the Indians 
were growing very importunate since hearing that the 
French were assisting the "rebels." Hamilton's defeat 
had cooled the savages in general ; but the Michilimack- 
inac commander declared he had a great number to 
send to Detroit, if they should be wanted. Gautier 
reached De Peyster's post during the latter half of 
May, with a large band of Winnebagoes and Menom- 
onees, which had been with him to the Mississippi, and 
had been stopped by the Sacs and Foxes on their way 
to join Hamilton. They soon went home, however, 
fearing the Chippewas of the plains and the Sacs 
would in their absence, disturb their villages. "They 
are gone," wrote De Peyster, "with promises to bring 
me some prisoners from Kaskaskia ; scalps I have posi- 
tively forbid, to prevent cruelty and lest they should 
pawn old ones or those of innocent persons, a deceit 
I think them often guilty of." 

"The Sioux Wabasha," continues the commandant, 
"was on his march to join Hamilton, but stopped on 
hearing of his defeat. He has sent the interpreter 
with his son and some young men, with a pipe, telling 
me that he waits my further orders ; that he has sil- 
enced the Foxes ; and desires to know if he shall strike 
the Sacs for having had talks with the rebels; which 
he is ready to, as well as all opposers of his Majesty's 
arms. I am sending off some powder and clothing to 
his nation as well as to the Winnebagoes and Menom- 
onees, to endeavor to keep them in our firm alliance ; 
if they continue so, we have nothing to fear from the 
Indians of that quarter."* 

* De Peyster to Haldimand in same. 



464 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Not understanding well the idle habits of savages 
and scarcely comprehending the numbers who were 
dependent on De Peyster for supplies, General Haldi- 
mand asked the Michilimackinac commandant by letter 
during the winter, whether some plan — such as the 
use by his garrison of dried venison and of fish — • 
could not be hit upon to lessen the great expense of 
furnishing his post w4th provision. But the Com- 
mander-in-chief was informed that any such scheme 
was not possible to be carried out. "Supplying the 
troops here," he wrote on the first of June, ''with any- 
thing but store provisions is impracticable; the taking 
of fish is too precarious ; most of what they take now, 
I supply the Indians with. And as to the Indian meat, 
there are not five carcasses of any kind brought to 
this post in the course of a year. Formerly, there 
used to be more, but there are fewer animals ; and the 
Indians, since the beginning of the war, are become 
very idle, even in the hunting season. I am obliged 
to help maintain all who live within fifty or sixty 
miles of this place. Were it not for the sugar in the 
spring, many would starve." 

By the middle of June, the Indians were "hanging 
upon" De Peyster in great numbers, to know if they 
were to be employed to go against the "rebels." That 
officer could not learn from below whether Captain 
Lernoult needed the assistance of any; and he was 
loath to send off parties to the Illinois without the 
express orders of the Commander-in-chief for so 
doing; for, at best, in his judgment, "it would only 
be productive of much cruelty perhaps exercised upon 
the undeserving ;" still many parties ' "would steal 
Qff'\ 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 465 

So soon as De Peyster received the news of the 
surrender of Fort Sackville, he took every pains to 
place his fort in as proper state of defense as possible. 
He threw down such houses as encumbered it, making 
use of the timber "together with the cedar fences/' to 
help strengthen the fortification. On the twentieth 
of June, he wrote General Haidimand, that the whole 
fort w^as lined with good, strong cedar pickets and a 
banquet thrown up so as to fire from a good hight 
through the loop-holes. Although the barracks would 
hold but seventy-two men, "still there are traders 
houses left," De Peyster declared, "which may be pur- 
chased and easily fitted to serve the purpose." The 
sand hills which commanded the fort were sources of 
much trouble. One of these still remained to be re- 
moved. After every storm, the drifts of sand like 
drifts of snow, were to be seen, and these had to be 
rem.oved. 

Tow^ards the last of June, De Peyster had received 
pretty full accounts from the Illinois. He was glad 
to know that Kaskaskia was not fortified and that the 
fort there was a "sorry" affair — "an enclosure round 
the Jesuits' college, with two plank houses at opposite 
angles, mounting two four-pounders each on the 
ground floor." Besides these, there were some swivels 
mounted. But there was one thing that gave the 
Michilimackinac commander uneasiness. "One Gode- 
froy Linctot," had joined the "rebels." "He has," 
declared De Peyster, "too much to say amongst 
the Indians; every method should therefore be used 
to get him into our hands ; for which purpose (and to 
reconnoiter) I send off Gautier with a party of Indians 

*De Peyster to Haidimand. — Haidimand MSS. 
30 



466 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



for Le Pee [Peoria], a small fort on the Illinois 
river, where he [Linctot] is at present with some other 
traders who had better be here. Gautier has orders 
to burn the fort." " 'The Pay' adds the Michilimack- 
inac commandant, is about eighty leagues from Kas- 
kaskia."'^' 

* Same to same, June 27, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. "The 
Pay" had a number of snyonyms : Peoria, Le Pee, Le Pay, 
Au Pay, Opa, the Pe, Pay, Pays, Pe, Pees. The village 
was situated on the west bank of Peoria Lake, one and a 
half miles above its outlet. (Matson's Pioneers of Illinois, 
pp. 216, 217.) In a letter written by Patrick Sinclair, then 
Lieutenant Governor at Michilimackinac to Brehm, Oct. 
29, 1779, he said that Mons. Durand upon oath related the 
affairs of the Illinois to be much in the condition represented 
by Major De Peyster to his Excellency [Gen. Haldimand, 
June 29, 1779], except that there was no fort at the Pe. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

HITHERTO, there had been no desertions from 
Kaskaskia to the enemy; now, however, by 
the wiles of one of Captain George's officers 
who had determined to go over to the British, three 
were induced to forsake the cause of Hberty and put 
themselves under the protection of Captain Lernoult at 
Detroit. These are the particulars: George Girty, a 
second lieutenant in what was formerly Captain Wil- 
ling's company (now Captain George's), hearing that 
his brothers, Simon and James Girty, had joined the 
British at Detroit, determined to forsake his compan- 
ions-in-arms, — in short, to desert. He made known 
his intentions to some of the prisoners taken by Clark 
at Vincennes, who had been brought to Kaskaskia. He 
offered to conduct them safely to Captain Lernoult. 
Sixteen of them agreed to the proposition ; but one en- 
tering an information and making oath against Girty, 
he was seized, put in irons, and closely confined. On 
the fourth day of May, he found means to effect his 
escape to the Spanish side of the Mississippi. Upon 
his arrival in St. Louis, the commandant of the Spanish 
garrison ordered him into confinement, but next morn- 
ing, after some inquiry, released him, informing him 
that it was not his intention to interfere with or molest 
any person on either side, unless for murder or some 
capital offense against civil society, and that it was 
his desire to remain in tranquility, and to treat all well 
who behave as becometh them. 

Girty, now that he was set at liberty, plotted 
again to secure the escape of some of Clark's prisoners 

(467) 



468 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

■ — succeeding, finally, in collecting four soldiers of the 
King's (or 8th) regiment, three deserters from the 
Americans, and one prisoner from Captain Lamothe's 
company (a fifer). They set out on the nineteenth of 
June from the Illinois and reached Detroit on the 
eighth of August following."^ Whether the three de- 
serters were all from Captain George's company is un- 
known. f 

As a first movement looking to an attack on De- 
troit, Clark dispatched from Kaskaskia Godefroy Lin- 
clot (a Canadian, formerly an ensign in the French 
service but latterly a merchant of Vincennes,J and who 
now joined the Colonel's forces) on a reconnoisance to 
the northward and northwestward, with a company of 
forty mounted volunteers — "forty rebel Canadians," 
as an Englishman afterward termed them. Linclot 
was instructed to ascend the Illinois river as far as 
Peoria, § cross the country to Wea, and proceed thence 
to Vincennes. He was to go among the different na- 
tions of Indians under pretense of visiting them as a 
friend, receive their congratulations on the late suc- 

* History of the Girtys, pp. 105-108. 

t That the Spanish territory, at this time, afforded com- 
plete protection for deserters from American forces, is shown 
by a letter of Capt. George to Col. Brodhead, 25 Sept., 1779. 
— Haldimand MSS. The four soldiers of the kings (or 8th) 
regiment were not the only ones of Clark's prisoners taken 
by him to Kaskaskia, who finally escaped from captivity. At 
Rogers' defeat (before mentioned as occurring on the twenty- 
seventh of September following), seven were rescued who 
were being sent over the mountains, as had been those with 
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton. (John Campbell to Lernoult, 
Oct. 23, 1779 — Haldimand MSS.) 

X Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. HI, p. 501. 

§That is, "Le Pe" or "the Pay." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 469 

cess of the Americans upon tbe Wabash, encourage 
such a desire to submit to the latter and desert the 
English, but above all to get the latest intelligence 
from Detroit. It was the Colonel's idea that this ma- 
neuvre would result not only in attaching the Illinois 
river Indians but also those upon the upper Wabash 
more firmly to his interest and prevent meanwhile the 
British and such savages as were their active allies 
from taking the field and distressing the frontiers. 
Linclot proved himself, as will presently be seen, a 
most effective partisan. 

John Todd from the time of his arrival at Kas- 
kaskia in the first half of May was, as lieutenant and 
commandant of Illinois county very busily engaged in 
the discharge of his official duties. On the fourteenth, 
he made out commissions for the militia officers ap- 
pointed b}rhim for the District of Kaskaskia. Richard 
Winston v/as made commandant. There were organ- 
ized two companies and one at Prairie du Rochen. 
Two companies were also completed and properly offi- 
cered at Cahokia. Courts were soon dispensing justice 
at the first and last places mentioned, with Gabriel 
Cerre as president in Kaskaskia and Godin Toranjean 
at Cahokia.* 

It was well understood by Todd that the act creat- 
ing the county of Illinois was sufficient in its scope 
to include not only the Illinois villages but also those 
on the Wabash ; it behooved him, therefore, so soon 
as the machinery of civil government had been put in 
motion in the towns just mentioned, that he should 
repair to Vincennes to there organize the militia and 
* Mason's Early Chicago and Illinois, pp. 294-296. 



m HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

establish a court of justice. By the middle of June, 
he was ready to leave Kaskaskia for that purpose ; but, 
before starting, he issued orders in writing to Wins- 
ton : "During my absence," said he, "the command 
will devolve upon you as commander of Kaskaskia. If 
Colonel Clark should want anything more for his ex- 
pedition, consult the members of the court upon the 
best mode of proceeding. If the people will not spare 
willingly (if in their power) you must press for what 
is wanted, valuing the property by two men under oath. 
Let the military have no pretext for forcing property. 
When you order it and the people will not find it, theR 
it will be time for them to interfere. By all means 
keep up a good understanding with Colonel Clark and 
his officers. If this is not the case, you will be un- 
happy."* 

Once at Vincennes and the County Lieutenant 
addressed himself to the task of organizing the militia' 
of that place. Major Legras was advanced to the rank 
of Lieutenant Colonel while Captain Bosseron was pro- 
moted to Major. The number of militia companies 
formed was four. A court with Colonel Legras as 
president was also organized. In July, Colonel Todd 
returned to Kaskaskia. f 

Early in June, Colonel Montgomery was dis- 
patched from Kaskaskia, by Clark, to go by water to 
Vincennes, with all the necessary stores, J including 
it seems, seven pieces of heavy cannon and four mor- 

* Id., p. 302. 

fid., pp. 295, 296. See, also, Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 
1859), p. 1G9. 

X Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. Ill, p. 441. 
(See, also, Mason's Early Chicago and Illinois, p. 353.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 471 

tars;* while Major Bowman marched with the prin- 
cipal force by land. The hopes of an actual organiza- 
tion of the expedition rested wholly upon the promised 
reinforcement of Colonel John Bowman from Ken- 
tucky. But when the American commander learned, 
as he did in due time, that the militia under that officer 
had gone across the Ohio to attack the Shawanees, 
he began to be apprehensive that the number to reach 
him at Fort Patrick Henry would be small. On the 
twenty-seventh, the Colonel with a party of horse 
started for Vincennes, reaching there in four days, 
where in a short tiirie thereafter his whole force had 
safely arrived. f Only a small force was left by the 
commander in Fort Clark:}: and in Fort Bowman, § — 
with Captain Lieutenant Harrison in command at the 
post first mentioned. II 

The intended undertaking against Detroit was in 
reality, one of the movements which Clark had thought 
of, as we know, even before starting on his campaign 
against Kaskaskia. It is to be considered therefore as 
much the result of the conquest of the Illinois as was 
the expedition against Vincennes. First, the Illinois 
towns, then, finally on to Detroit, — was his ambition 
from the start. But how leisurely were the prepara- 
tions — how much less the anxieties — how full of 
hope the anticipations — now, in his setting out for 
Vincennes, from those of a few months previous. 
Now, the population and troops at the place just men- 

* Lorraine to Lernoult, July 18. 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 
t Appendix to our narrative, Note CXXVII. 
X At Kaskaskia. 
§ At Cahokia. 

II Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 324; also 
Appendix to- our narrative, CXXXI. 



472 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

tioned were all Americans at heart. Now, the weather 
was warm and the streams were low. There was now 
a plentiful supply of provisions taken along by Major 
Bowman, for the march (including cattle on foot), 
let the time be procrastinated as it might. And instead 
of the many weary days of the preceding February 
journey, four days now were enough for Clark, well- 
mounted as he was, to reach the Wabash town."*" 

Upon Clark's arrival at Vincennes (the first of 
July), instead of there being in the place two or three 
hundred Kentuckians that he was promised, he found 
only about thirty volunteers. Their meeting with 
(what was looked upon as) a repulse from the Shawa- 
nese had discouraged the Kentuckians generally ;t and 
it was not in the power of the Commander, Colonel 
Bowman, to march them as militia to join Clark. J 

In after years, Clark wrote : "Instead of three 
hundred men from Kentucky, there appeared about 
thirty volunteers, commanded by Captain McGary." 

The American commander had, under his imme- 
diate orders at Vincennes, about three hundred and 

* Appendix, Note CXXVIII. 

t See History of the Girtys, p. 96. 

X "Arriving there [at Vincennes] in July, 1779, he [Clark] 
found only thirty from Kentucky of the three hundred prom- 
ised him. There were no tidings of recruits from Virginia ; 
and Major Bowman, his trusty companion in former cam- 
paigns was fighting the Shawanese on the Ohio at a disad- 
vantage." (Dr. William Frederick Poole, in Winsor's Nar- 
rative and Critical History of America, vol. VI, p. 730.) 
Major Joseph Bowman is here confounded with Col. John 
Bowman, lieutenant of Kentucky county. And the latter did 
not fight "the Shawanese on the Ohio,' but a good many 
miles north of that river — not far from the present Xenia, 
Ohio. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 473 

fifty men. A council of war was called, and all his 
officers except two voted to go on with the expedition. 
But Clark, after mature consideration, decided not to 
undertake the campaign. The small number of troops 
would not justify an undertaking of such magnitude, 
although the chiefs of several Indian tribes solicited 
the privilege of taking part with their warriors in the 
enterprise — the result of the effective work done by 
Linclot, who had previously reached Vincennes and of 
the stirring and fearless "speech" sent among the vari- 
ous nations by the Colonel.''' 

Clark readily found an excuse to his officers for 
his course. "I pretended it was on account of General 
Sullivan's marching on Niagara (of which we had just 
heard) that stopped us — that there was no doubt of 
his success. Detroit would fall, of course, and conse- 
quently it was not worth our while marching ag-ainsl 
it; although I knew, at the same time, Detroit would 
not fall with Niagara, as they had an easy communica- 
tion with Alontreal through another channel by way 
of Grand [Ottawa] river."t 

The resolve of Colonel Clark to rendezvous at 
Vincennes preparatory to marching against Detroit, 

* Exactly what Indian chiefs were anxious to join Clark 
is not known : but, of the Wabash tribes there was undoubt- 
edly a portion of one — the Miami Indians, of Eel river — 
which did not ask the privilege ; as they took a neutral atti- 
tude towards the belligerents. {History of the Girtys, p. 107.) 

t Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
pp. 86, 87. (See Appendix to our narrative, Note CXXIX.) 
As a matter of fact General Sullivan did not march "on 
Niagara," but against Indians of the Six Nations, particu- 
larly the Senecas. {Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. 
110 n.) 



474 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

should circumstances permit, seems to have been an 
"open secret" at Kaskaskia, for, not later than the 
twentieth of May, the news was on its way to Detroit 
and Michilimickinac. 

It was not a surprise to Captain Lernoult. It had 
all along been if not really anticipated by him, at least 
judged not to be impossible. He was prepared not 
only for this emergency but for a movement against 
his post from Pittsburg, — to the extent (in either 
event) not only of having received the reinforcement 
of two hundred regulars for his garrison but of having 
made considerable progress on his new fort. Whether, 
in case of an attack, he would abandon the old fort — 
he would let circumstances determine. However, in 
the end he found that, in all probability, he would not 
be compelled to decide the question, — having received 
what seemed to be reliable information that Clark had 
abandoned the proposed expedition; still, it was the 
close of September before he ceased his watchful care, 
having, as he says, "filled up my magazines in the new 
fort that we may not be taken unawares should the 
enemy advance this way, which they probably may to 
burn and destroy the grain belonging to the [Indian] 
nations.""^' The new fortification received the name of 
"Fort Lernoult." 

Naturally, the Captain had not at this juncture 
slackened his efforts in repressing "rebels" in Detroit. 
Depositions and declarations of those loyal to Britain 
were taken implicating some who had indiscreetly ex- 
pressed themselves as being in sympathy with the 

"^ History of the Girtvs, pp. 109, 110. Lernoult to Bolton, 
Sept. 25, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 475 

Americans, and informing against at least one other 
who was giving aid to Colonel Clark.* And he soon 
received from the Commander-in-Chief additional au- 
thority to act at once when an invasion was imminent 
— for the good of his Majesty's service and for the 
protection of trade and of his Majesty's loyal subjects 
and their effects. That this might be accomplished, he 
was empowered to hold general courts martial for the 
punishing of all offenders and transgressors of all de- 
scriptions and degrees whatever, according to the na- 
ture of their offenses, as they should appear upon trial 
before the same. He had power to put in execution 
all sentences pronounced by the court even to the 
"pains of death." But he must first declare martial 
law on the approach of an enemy to attack Detroit or 
any of its dependencies, before exercising such power 
over the lives of persons. f 

It was about the first of July that the news reached 
De Peyster concerning the movement intended by the 
Americans from Kaskaskia. "Having received intelli- 
gence," he wrote to Haldimand on the ninth, "that an 
attack is intended against Detroit by the rebels from 
the Illinois, who are to march by the Wabash and St. 
Joseph, I have detached Lieutenant [Thomas] Ben- 
nett with some traders and canoemen, twenty soldiers 
and two hundred Indians to endeavor to intercept one 
Linclot, who is to march with a body of horse by St. 
Joseph." In another letter of the same date, he said: 
"On the 29th of June I acquainted your Excellency 
that I was sending off a party towards the Pee [Peo- 

''' Depositions of H. lago, John Laiighton, William Miller, 
John Cornwall, John Higgins, William Humphreys — all taken 
in July and August, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 

fBrehm to Lernoult, July 29, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 



476 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

ria]. Since then I have received information from St. 
Joseph [which they (the people there) had from the 
IlHnois so late as the twenty-eighth of May], that the 
rebels were in great forwardness to march with seven 
hundred men to the Wabash against Detroit and that 
one Linclot is to march four hundred horse by St. 
Joseph."* 

'*Tn consequence of this intelligence," added De 
Peyster, "I have detached Lieutenant Bennett who 
went off the next day with twenty soldiers and about 
sixty traders and canoe Indians to endeavor to inter- 
cept Linclot [by marching first to St. Joseph, then to 
Chicago and crossing to the Illinois] or attempt any- 
thing in that quarter which may be conducive to dis- 
tress the rebels. The numbers of the Indians will 
daily increase. Allowing the whole of this report to 
be false, the movement will answer a good purpose, as 
it will secure the wavering Indians, particularly the 
Pottawattamies, keep up the spirit of the inhabitants 
of Detroit settlement, and greatly deter the rebels from 
any attempt that way, seeing they are much disturbed 
in thinking that the Indians would remain neuter and 
let them pass. I have purchased the Welcome [of John 
Askin] and will let her stay [at the River St. Joseph] 
with provisions and some goods to enable Mr. Bennett 
to speak to the Pottawattamies, Mascoutins, Kicka- 
poos, and Miamis." 

De Peyster had already (on the first of July) is- 
sued instructions to Langlade at "the Bay" to do his 
utmost to raise the Winnebagos and Milwaukee In- 
dians, also others living on the borders of Lake Michi- 

* It will be noticed that the reports "received by De Peyster 
concerning Clark and his movements were in general exag- 
gerated, especially as to the number of the Colonel's men. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 477 

gan, and with them hurry and join Liet* tenant Bennett 
at Chicago, and in case the latter had "passed forward, 
to follow him in forced marches, overtake him before 
his arrival, and to travel with him for the good of the 
service, in accordance with the orders" which he (the 
Lieutenant) had received from the Michilimackinac 
commandant. 

On the twenty-first of the month De Peyster com- 
plained to the Commander-in-Chief that no vessel since 
the opening of navigation had been sent from Detroit 
to his post. "I once sent the sloop Welcome thither, 
and she returned ; since which, I am obliged to em- 
ploy her on Lake Michigan. It would be necessary 
for the good of the service (if your Excellency thought 
proper) to order a vessel to ply constantly between the 
two places, in the situation we are in at present. The 
Indians are in constant alarm, and are often so much 
persuaded that Detroit is taken that they are ready to 
leave their habitations — so much are they exposed to 
the impositions of designing people, which I have not 
in my power to contradict for want of more frequent 
intelligence. The commanding officer at Detroit gives 
me all the intelligence he receives ; but, to hear often, 
that all is well, would be most esential service in the 
management of the Indians." 

The destination of Lieutenant Bennett under or- 
ders from De Peyster, was, St. Joseph, as just inti- 
mated, where he was to assemble the Pottawattamies 
of that vicinity. He arrived out on the twenty-third 
of July, and threw up an entrenchment sufficient to 
oppose a superior number of savages, in case their in- 
tentions were found to be hostile to British interests. 
But the Pottawattamies who were first seen were found 



478 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

submissive and he sent out parties to endeavor to get 
some intelligence of the enemy and if possible to bring 
in some prisoners, or to distress the ''rebels" in any 
manner they might think could be most easily accom- 
plished. He also dispatched an express to Captain 
Lernoult at Detroit informing him of the disposition 
of the savages (at least as it appeared to the Lieu- 
tenant) and begged to know if he could render him 
any service, either with his own party or in conjunc- 
tion with any other the Captain might send to join 
him from his post. 

It was perhaps well that Lieutenant Bennett took 
the precaution to throw up a fortification at St. Joseph, 
for he soon wrote his superior officer a discouraging 
letter. "In my last," said he, "I informed you what 
fine speeches the Pottawattamies made me. Two days 
afterwards, a chief called the Petit Bled, from Nipi- 
cous, came at the head of the dififerent bands of the 
Pottawattamies and told me what was said before his 
arrival was without any other design than mere com- 
pliment ; but he was now come to give his pure senti- 
ments ; that they returned the detested hatchet and pipe 
which were brought here only to render their village 
miserable ; he said they desired tranquility but still in- 
sisted that he held sacred the hatchet of his former 
father, the French King, and would never quit it. As 
soon as he returned to his village, the others came and 
made an apology for their insolence. I gave them an 
answer such as I thought they deserved.""^ 

Langlade reached St. Joseph with only sixty sav- 
ages — Chippewas : and Lieutenant Bennett soon 

* Lieut. Bennett to Major De Peyster, from St. Joseph, 
Aug. 9, 1779. — Haldimand MSS. 



. History of clark's conquest, etc. 479 

found that no dependence could be placed on the Ot- 
t^was, as, upon their leaving Arbre Croche they were 
determined to go no further than St. Joseph ; also, that 
the Pottawattamies were much disaffected. "Our 
scouts," he wrote to De Peyster, "have all been fright- 
ened back by Indian reports. They seem all to be de- 
bauched by the thoughts of a French war. We have 
not twenty Indians in our camp who are not preparing 
to leave us. . . Mr. Beaubien, an officer in Capt. 
Lernoult's department at the Miamis, has joined us to 
offer his service. He says there are not fifty rebels at 
Vincennes. . . "As we have no account of an 
enemy near us unless treacherous Indians, I would 
immediately return to Michilimackinac did I not think 
myself obliged to wait Capt. Lernoult's answer whether 
he wants us at or near Detroit. I have deceived him 
much with respect to our numbers. I thought I could 
depend more upon the Ottawas ; however, I have the 
pleasure to tell you that French and English are all 
well in spirits, and only wait for an order to march."* 
Lieutenant Bennett finally, without hearing from 
Captain Lernoult at Detroit, concluded to return to 
Michilimackinac, which he reached the last of August, 
assuring De Peyster, upon his arrival, that the Cana- 
dians behaved with the greatest appearance of zeal for 
the service possible and seemed greatly disappointed 
at not having it in their power to distinguish them- 
selves ; — "also of the soldiers who were of the party," 
said he, "I flatter myself I need not inform you of 
their eagerness to meet the enemy."t 

*Id. 

t Lieut. Bennett's i^f/^or^ — Haldimand MSS. 



480 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"1 have accounts," wrote De Peyster to General 
Haldimand on the ninth of August, "that Clark is on 
the march to Wea with five hundred men followed by 
two hundred oxen, the remainder of his provisions to 
go up the Ohio and Wabash. Linctot marches with a 
party from the Pay [Peoria], to join him at Wea or 
Miamis. Their object is said to be Detroit. I believe 
by this time we have five hundred Indians on the look- 
out to harrass them on their march and endeavor to 
draw them into an ambuscade, which I have ordered 
to be laid for them." 

It will thus be seen that De Peyster had received 
an exaggerated account of the marching of Major 
Bowman to Vincennes with the principal part of 
Clark's force ; and it is also to be noted, that, had 
Clark actually marched from that place towards De- 
troit, he would doubtless have encountered much oppo- 
sition from the savages on the way, notwithstanding 
the friendly attitude of the Illinois river Indians toward 
him and of those of the Upper Wabash — thanks to 
the zeal and courage of Linclot. 

It was not long after De Peyster had written the 
letter just mentioned to the Commander-in-Chief be- 
fore he became convinced that Clark's intended expedi- 
tion against Detroit had, some time before, been aban- 
doned. 

The attachment previously of the Indians for the 
French, the pains taken by the latter to renew it, the 
apprehensions that the savages who were professed 
allies had in contemplation to desert the British inter- 
ests, the unfortunate miscarriage of Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor Hamilton against the Illinois, and the defection 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 481 

of many of the inhabitants of Detroit, — had all im- 
pressed themselves strongly upon General Haldimand's 
mind as events portending evil for his cause in the 
West. He could plainly see that the causes mentioned 
had strongly served to alienate the affections of the 
Indians ; and notwithstanding "they continue to pro- 
fess their attachment to the King, they frame excuses 
for not going to war, and discover upon all occasions 
an indifference which indicates their intention to for- 
sake us :" — such were his words to Lord George Ger- 
main. 

And the General added: ''From every informa- 
tion that has been received, it would appear that an 
expedition against Detroit is certainly intended under 
the command of a Colonel Clark who retook Vin- 
cennes. I have reinforced Detroit; and the forward- 
ness of a most useful work now erecting there will, I 
hope, insure the safety of that place, unless the rebels 
should find means to make their way to it in great 
force; which, the growing slackness of the Western 
nations may perhaps enable them to effect."* 

It was a great relief to the British Commander-in- 
Chief to learn, finally, that "a Colonel Clark" had given 
up his plan of attacking Detroit. 

At the time when Clark had resolved to relin- 
quish, for the time, all attempts against Detroit, the 
Piankeshaw Indians, to show their esteem for him, 
urged him to accept a gift of land two and one-half 
leagues square in some portion of their territory. The 
Colonel having previously refused any such present as 
being contrary to the Virginia constitution, now 

* Haldimand to Germain, Sept. 13th and Uth, 1779,-^ 
Haldimand MSS. 
31 



482 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

thought it would be pohtic to accept the offer ; so, on 
the sixteenth of June, the Tobacco's son, on behalf of 
all the Piankeshaws, executed a deed to Clark for the 
amount before mentioned, lying on the right bank of 
the Ohio, at the Falls, Clark suspecting that he might 
find it necessary to fortify there "for the convenience 
of free intercourse.""^ 

It was now the opinion of Clark that the interests 
of the service required him to spend a few months at 
the Falls of the Ohio, — hoping upon his arrival there 
to be able to raise a sufficient force to punish the Shaw- 
anese in a more signal manner than had been done by 
Colonel Bowman. Having a number of supernumer- 
ary officers, he sent them into the settlements of Ken- 
tucky county to recruit for his battalion, at the same 
time giving proper instructions for the direction of 
the commands of the different posts. 

Lieutenant Colonel Montgomery was to go to the 
Illinois. Under him was placed the company of Cap- 
tain John Williams ; which force, when joined by Cap- 
tain Worthington's company, was to occupy Fort 
Clark, at Kaskaskia ; — Captain Lieutenant Harrison, 
then at that post, was to have charge of the artillery. 
Montgomery was also to take with him Captain Mc- 
Carty's command, which, after being reinforced by' 
Captain Quirk's company, was to be stationed at Ca- 
hokia. ^ The garrison at Fort Patrick Henry (Vin- 
cennes) was to be composed of Captain Shelby's and 
Captain Robert Todd's commands, to be joined by the 
companies of Captains Taylor and Keller. Captains 
Williams, McCarty, Todd and Shelby were to com- 
mand their respective forces when augmented as stated. 
* Appendix, Note CXXX, "^ 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 483 

' Major Joseph Bowman was to proceed with the 
recruiting parties. Under him, upon that service, 
were the supernumerary captains — Quirk, Evans, 
Taylor, Worthington and Keller. Captain Robert 
George and Lieutenant Robertson, with their artillery 
company, were to go with Clark to the Falls, where 
''Headquarters" were to be established. Captain Helm 
was made Indian agent for Fort Patrick Henry and 
the Department of the Wabash. 

Godefroy Linctot was directed to act as Agent 
of the Illinois river Indians and other western and 
northwestern tribes ; and Antoine Gamelin, of the 
Weas. Linctot was to report to Montgomery ; and 
Gamelin, although in Helm's Department, to "Head- 
quarters" at the Falls, or to Kaskaskia. 

"Captain Linctot will appoint," so ran the order, 
"an assistant for the upper part of the Mississippi, in 
the Indian Department, near the Dogs plains [now 
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin], provided the appoint- 
ment be approved of by Colonel Montgomery, or the 
commanding officer for the time being," These orders 
were promulgated on the fifth of August.''' 

"The body of the battalion," afterward wrote 
Montgomery, "marched back to the Mississippi to gar- 

* Appendix, Note CXXXI, where this last General Order 
of Clark issued on his Illinois expedition is given in full. 
On the 25th of Sept., 1779, Capt. George at the Falls of the 
Ohio wrote to Col. Daniel Brodhead at Fort Pitt: "Col. 
Clark has divided the men under my command into detach- 
ments, which he has stationed at sundry places, so that there 
is not at this time above ten or twelve with me at this 
place .... Since my arrival in this country I have ac- 
cepted a commission under the State of Virginia and conclude 
myself more immediately under Col. Clark's orders." 



484 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

rison the towns of Kaskaskia and Cohokia. Colonel 
Clark finding the public interest required that he 
should reside at the Falls of the Ohio until provision 
should be made for the ensuing campaign, I was or- 
dered to take command of the troops in the Illinois; 
to make, often, reports of the condition of that De- 
partment to the Colonel ; and to be careful to have ex- 
penses of Government as moderate as possible, draw- 
ing bills of exchange on him or the treasury of Vir- 
ginia for the payment of the expenses of the troops, 
studying the general interest of the State, and tran- 
quility of the inhabitants of the different posts, letting 
all kind of oppression be the last shift. This is the 
substance of the orders I received."* 

"At Vincennes, on the fifth of August, 1779," sub- 
sequently wrote Clark, "the Western troops were as- 
signed to different posts agreeable to a general order. 
Lieutenant • Colonel Montgomery was authorized by 
me to draw bills of exchange on myself or the treas- 
urer .of the State of Virginia, for defraying the neces- 
sary expenses of the troops in the Department, but not 
on any other person. "f 

When everything at Vincennes had been satisfac- 
torily arranged, the American commander "set out for 
the Falls," where he arrived on the twentieth of Au- 
gust ; issuing his orders thereafter from "Headquar- 
ters," as "Colonel of the Illinois Battalion, and Com- 

"^ Montgomery to B'd. Com'rs. of Western Accts, Feb. 
22, 11^^ — Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. Ill, p. 441. 
Montgomery left Vincennes for Kaskaskia on the 14th of 
August. 

t Clark to Colonel William Fleming, February 6, 1783, 
{Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. Ill, p. 433.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 485 

mander-in-Chief of the Virginia Forces in the West- 
ern Department."* 

After an absence of nearly fourteen months, he 
now saw, upon the Kentucky shore, instead of a wil- 
derness, as when he left the island, a considerable set- 
tlement. The ''post" previously ordered by him to be 
removed ''to the main land," he found was a well- 
built but small fort, with which he was much pleased. f 

Previous to the establishing of his headquarters 
on the Ohio, Clark was voted a sword by the General 
Assembly of Virginia as a proof of their appreciation 
of his "great and good conduct and gallant behavior." 
It was purchased by the Governor "of a gentleman 
who had used it but little and judged it to be elegant 
and costly." In transmitting it to the Colonel (it was 
sent in care of a Captain of the militia) the Lieutenant 
Governor, John Page, wrote him a kind — almost 
affectionate — letter dated the fourth of September, 
congratulating him on his successes and wishing him 
a continuation of them. The sword was received by 
Clark at the Falls and was highly appreciated. J 

Clark expended during the time he was actually 
engaged in the conquest of the Illinois and Wabash 
towns of cash received from the treasurer of Virginia 
and from Oliver Pollock, the State's financial agent 
(and the United States' as well) in New Orleans, over 
one hundred thousand dollars, — nearly one half being 
provided and sent to the Colonel by the last mentioned, 
who, because of his trouble and responsibility in so 
doing and for his activity and zeal in promoting the 

* Appendix, Note CXXXII. 
t Same, Note, CXXXIII. 
X Same, Note CXXXIV. 



486 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

interests of the country generally, is entitled to have 
his name enrolled high on the list of those the nation 
delights to honor. His genuine patriotism (for such 
it was) contributed greatly towards making the expe- 
dition a complete and permanent success-* 

The grant made on the sixteenth day of June, 
1779, by "Francis, son of Tobacco" to Clark, of two 
and a half leagues of land lying on the right bank of 
the Ohio opposite the Falls, being in contravention of 
the constitution of Virginia formed in May, 1776, was 
of course void as soon as made. But, the instrument 
of writing drawn up on the third of January, 1778, 
by Wythe, Mason and Jefferson, wherein they prom- 
ised to use their influence to obtain a liberal bounty 
for each one joining Clark, in case of the success of 
the Illinois expedition, was, it may be premised, more 
than fulfilled as Virginia extended her liberality not 
only to the privates, but to Clark himself and to his 
officers, in a marked degree, by granting, in its act 
of the second of January, 1781, to them one hundred 
and fifty thousand acres of land, to be laid off on the 
northern borders of the Ohio adjacent to the Falls. f 

And this grant was, on the first day of March, 
1784, confirmed, so far as Virginia was concerned, by 
its deed of cession to the United States of all right, 
title and claim to the country northwest of the Ohio. 

This action was taken because by an act of the 
second of January, 1781, the General Assembly of Vir- 
ginia had resolved that, on certain conditions, they 

* See Magazine of American History, vol. XII, pp. 415, 
416; and Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. I, pp. 603-605. (Ap- 
pendix to our narrative, Note CXXXIV.) 

t Appendix, Note CXXXV. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 487 

would cede to Congress, for the benefit of the United 
States, all the right, title and claim which Virginia 
had to the territory northwest of the river Ohio. Con- 
gress, by an act of the thirteenth of September, 1783, 
agreed to accept the cession of the territory ; and the 
General Assembly of Virginia, on the twentieth of De- 
cember, thereafter, passed an act authorizing their del- 
egates in Congress to convey the same to the General 
Government. 

The deed was duly executed wherein was a con- 
dition that ''a quantity not exceeding one hundred and 
fifty thousand acres of land, promised by Virginia, 
shall be allowed and granted to the then Colonel, now 
General George Rogers Clark, and to the offtcers and 
soldiers of his regiment, who marched with him when 
the posts of Kaskaskia and Vincennes were reduced, 
and to the ofBcers and soldiers that have been since 
incorporated into the said regiment, to be laid ofif in 
one tract, the length of which not to exceed double the 
breadth, in such place on the northwest side of the 
Ohio as a majority of the ofhcers shall choose and to be 
afterward divided among the ofhcers and soldiers in 
due proportion, according to the laws of Virginia." 

Now, by provisions of the acts of the General As- 
sembly of Virginia, of the third of October, 1779, and 
of the fifth of October, 1780, Clark and his officers and 
men were entitled to receive as follows : 

Brigadier-General 10,000 acres 

Colonel Q,Qm 2/3 " 

Lieutenant-Colonel 6,000 " 

Major 5,666 2/3 " 

Captain 4,000 

Subaltern 2,666 2/3 " 

Non-commissioned officer 400 " 

Soldier (private) 200 " . 



488 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The deed of cession by Virginia having been duly 
.accepted by the United States, the General Government 
were bound to see that Clark and his officers and pri- 
vates received the several amounts which had been 
granted them by Virginia ; and, finally, they obtained 
(they or their heirs or assigns) their reward. 

The conquest of the Illinois and of the Wabash 
towns thus ended, was a glorious one for the originator 
and those engaged in the undertaking under him. The 
enterprise, divisible into two principal parts, (i) the 
taking of the Illinois, and (2) the capture of Hamilton 
and his garrison — two acts of a notable drama, of 
which these events were the opening and closing — 
must be considered as one campaign, in which the 
efforts of Clark were great and effective and for which 
America will ever cherish his memory. No other mil- 
itia officer accomplished as much during the Revolu- 
tion ; and none other in that arm of the service achieved 
so much renown. His success resulted greatly to the 
advantage of Virginia, especially to that part of the 
State organized into Kentucky county;* and, in the 
end, it proved of signal importance to the United 
States. t 

* Appendix, Note CXXXVI. 
t Appendix, Note CXXXVII. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

FOR over three years after his conquest of the 
lUinois and Wabash towns and his return to 
the Falls of Ohio, Clark led an active life. 
He soon received an express from Governor Jeffer- 
son bringing intelligence that a reinforcement would 
be sent him, and that it was intended to erect a forti- 
fication (as had already been mentioned by Governor 
Henry in his private instructions to the Colonel) at 
or near the mouth of the Ohio.* During the fall, 
Clark busied himself in issuing orders looking to its 
speedy commencement. All other plans in a military 
way he was forced to lay aside owing to the low 
stage of water in the river ; and, throughout the suc- 
ceeding months of winter, he accomplished little so far 
as public interests were concerned. 

In April, 1780, the Colonel began operations 
actively upon the fortification alluded to, locating it 

* Jefferson's letter to Clark was dated June 28, 1779, not 
1778, as stated by Butler (History of Kentucky, pp. 112, 113). 
This mistake has caused some confusion. (See Henry's 
Life of Patrick Henry, vol. I, p. 587.) It has been claimed 
(Pitkin's United States, vol. II, p. 95) that the erection of 
Fort Jefferson in conformity with instructions from Gov. 
Jefferson was in order to fortify the claim of the United 
States as to its western boundary being the Mississippi, 
south of the Ohio (see also Butler's Kentucky, p. 112). That 
it afterward did fortify, in a measure, the claim of the General 
Government is- true ; but the immediate cause for the deter- 
mination of Jefferson to build the fortification was for the 
advancement of Virginia's claim of like nature, as evidenced 
by its being garrisoned by that State alone, after being com- 
pleted by her troops. 

(489) 



490 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

on the left (east) bank of the Mississippi, about five 
miles below the mouth of the Ohio. He named it 
"Fort Jefferson" in honor of the Virginia governor. 

Hearing of the approach of a considerable British 
and Indian force against Cahokia and St. Louis, Clark 
hastened with a party to the relief of the former 
place, reaching there in time to repel the enemy. 
Learning then that an army from Detroit was march- 
ing to invade Kentucky, he returned hastily to Fort 
Jefferson, marching thence to Louisville with what 
men could be spared from his post; but he arrived 
there too late to prevent the reduction of two interior 
stations and the securing by the enemy under Captain 
Henry Bird of a considerable number of prisoners."^ 
Thereupon, he gathered about a thousand men, in- 
vaded the Shawanese country north of the Ohio, de- 
feating the Indians and laying waste two of their 
villages. This was early in August.f 

Before the close of the year Clark's attention 
was again directed against Detroit. Going to the Vir- 
ginia capital, he arranged with the Virginia Governor 

* For an account of Bird's invasion of Kentucky, see 
History of the Girtys, pp. 118-120. Butler {History of Ken- 
tucky, pp. 115, 116), gives currency to the absurd tradition 
that Clark, on his way to Louisville, had but two companions ; 
and that all three "painted themselves like Indians." His 
account has been extensively copied. (See History of the 
Girtys, p. 121.) "The apprehension of a large body of the 
enemy in motion from Detroit towards the Falls of the 
Ohio, has called him [Clark] there [from Fort Jefferson] 
with what men he could well spare from this country, before 
he had well breathed after the fatigues of an expedition up 
the Mississippi." (John Dodge to Gov. Jefferson from Fort 
Jefferson, Aug. 1, 1780 — Calendar of Virginia State Papers, 
vol. 1, p. 368.) The italicising is mine. 

f History of the Girtys, pp. 121, 122, 406. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. M 

and his Council for the undertaking, which met the 
approval of Washington; but before anything could 
be accomplished, Arnold's invasion of Virginia, in 
January, 1781, occurred, when Clark temporarily 
headed two hundred and forty riflemen and ambus- 
caded a party of the enemy on James river. He then 
(having been commissioned the twenty-second of the 
month just mentioned a Brigadier General) made 
strenuous efforts to carry forward the Detroit expe- 
dition; but because of the defeat of a portion of his 
force under Colonel Archibald Lochrey while on its 
way down the Ohio to join him on that river, and of 
the passage of an act by Virginia, authorizing the 
Governor to stop the expedition, the General was com- 
pelled to abandon the undertaking after reaching 
Louisville. This was in September."^ 

For the residue of the year 1781, after the aban- 
donment of the expedition against Detroit, there was 
nothing of particular note accomplished by Clark be- 
yond watching and guarding the Kentucky settle- 
ments. But in the Spring of 1782, he was busying 
himself at the Falls in the erection of a new fortifi- 
cation and later in building an armed boat to ply on 
the river. His new and "formidable fortress" was 
named "Fort Nelson." 

* Washington-Irvine Correspondence, pp. 53-56, 76, 77, 
83, 154, 229-231. History of the Girtys, pp. 129-131. "From 
this time forth," says Lewis Collins (Historical Sketches of 
Kentucky, p. — ), "his [Clark's] influence sensibly decreased, 
and the innate force and energy of his character languished 
and degenerated." It is not to be presumed, however, that 
the failure of this expedition was the only cause for this, if, 
indeed, it was the principal one. Concerning his loss of pres- 
tige, more will be said hereafter. 



492 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

In August, Captain William Caldwell with Rangers 
and Indians gained a signal victory over the Ken- 
tuckians at the Blue Licks, but Clark was not in 
command of the latter. This success of the enemy 
induced the General, as a counter stroke, again to lead 
a considerable force — over a thousand men — across 
the Ohio. He attacked, in November, the savages on 
the Great Miami and destroyed their villages and 
means of subsistence.* This was his last important 
military service during the Revolution. He had 
already become tired of his command and had solicited 
the Virginia governor to be recalled. f But it was 
not because the northwestward Indians (except the 
Piankeshaws and those near the settlements on the 
Mississippi) had wholly engaged in the war against 
the Americans,! nor was it because of the desperate 
straits of Virginia in a financial way, causing him to 
dispose of some lands he was possessed of to obtain 
stores for his soldiers at Louisville. § He had, as he 
believed, other reasons ; and he would in the early 
spring, go over the mountains to confer with the Gov- 
ernor; but it was -his intention to return," notwith- 
standing, to Louisville, to reside there. 

The Governor gave General Clark liberty to re- 
linquish his command in the West, and the latter early 
in the Spring wrote Harrison thanking him for the 

* Washington-Irvine Correspondence, p. 401. 

t Clark to Gov. Harrison, Oct. 22, 1782 : Calendar of 
Virginia State Papers, vol. Ill, p 351. .Same to same, Nov. 
27, 1782, in the same vol., p. 381. 

+ Same to same, Oct. 18, same ye^ar ■ Calendar of Virginia 
State Papers, vol. Ill, p. 345 fwhete ("lark's initials are not 
given, but the letter "S". ' appears in their place). 

§ Same to same, Nov. 3o, same year (see the work last 
cited, vol. Ill, p. 386). 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 493 

permit, at the same time giving him his reasons for 
the request he had made, which he declares were not 
because of the smallness of his command, but quite a 
different cause. Every exertion in his power had been 
made for many years for the defense of his Depart- 
ment he declared. Knowing that the safety of the 
frontier down the Ohio and upon the Mississippi and 
Wabash depended upon his activity, he says he took 
pleasure in encountering the greatest fatigues, leaving 
nothing in his power undone, either by dividing the 
councils of the Indians by taking necessary steps to 
keep large numbers in American interests, or by mak- 
ing necessary excursions into their country to distress 
the enemy and cause the friendly-disposed to remain 
so. He spoke of a clan of partisans who resided in 
Philadelphia ("pretended proprietors," as he calls 
them), who were endeavoring to divide the counsels 
of the people in the Kentucky settlements and to de- 
stroy their interest at the seat of the Virginia gov- 
ernment, "more effectually to complete their disaffec- 
tion to the State." The General really believed their 
efforts were in an especial manner directed against 
him, whose desire above all things was to save the 
country, but which, if the war continued, he would 
be unable to effect because of their machinations. He 
wished "to be clear" of their evil designs ; so he 
would leave the West.* 

In the first half of May, the General had reached 
Richmond, then the Virginia seat of Government; 

* Clark to Gov. Harrison of Va., March 8, 1783, from 
Lincoln county, Kentucky — Calendar of Virginia State Pa- 
pers, vol. III. pp. 453, 454. (See Appendix to our narrative, 
Note CXXXVIII.) 



494 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

but, from the following letter, it is evident he was 
distressed for necessaries : 

''Richmond, May 21st, 1783. 

"Sir : Nothing but necessity could induce me to make 
the following request of your Excellency, which is, to grant 
me a small sum of money on account. I can assure you, Sir, 
that I am exceedingly distressed for the want of necessary 
clothmg, etc., and don't know of any channel through which 
I could procure any except that of the Executive. The State, 
I believe, will fall considerable in my debt. Any supplies 
that your Excellency favors me with might be deducted out 
of my accounts. I have the honor to be your Excellency's 
obedient servant, 

G. R. Clark. 

"His Excellency Governor Harrison."* 

The next day Clark gave to Governor Harrison, 
at his request, a "plan of such offensive measures" 
as he believed the general interest required to be put 
in e::ecution that season against the Indians.f How- 
ever, the preliminary articles of peace had been signed 
between the United States and Great Britain and the 
latter power had made fair promises to call in her 
savage allies and restrain them from farther hostilities 
against the Americans. 

We now come to the last act of Clark in a public 
way while yet a Brigadier General. A meeting was 
held in Richmond on the twenty-seventh day of May, 
1783, of a number of State officers, "for the purpose 
of endeavoring to get proper means adopted for locat- 
ing, alloting and surveying their lands : to have their 
certificates put upon proper footing, and measures 
taken to give them a sufficient credit; and to have 
their claim to half-pay finally determined by the As- 

* Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. Ill, p. 487. 
tid., pp. 488-490. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 495 

sembly." General Clark acted as president of the meet- 
ing. Resolutions were passed that a memorial be 
presented to the Assembly requesting that officers and 
soldiers of the State Line and Navy be put on the 
same footing with the officers and soldiers of the Vir- 
ginia Continental Line, with respect to land, bounties, 
etc. ; and stating that, in lieu of their half-pay for 
life, they preferred to receive full pay for five years 
only. Clark and seven other (officers) were ap- 
pointed to draw up the memorial. 

The General (together with a like number of 
■officers as last mentioned) was also appointed to 
superintend the surveyors employed to survey the 
lands, in conjunction with the officers appointed by 
the Continental Line for that purpose, and to see 
that the regiments and corps that had served *'in the 
westward" were duly provided for, as all other troops, 
in the memorial to be prepared for the General As- 
sembly. 

The officers appointed to draw up the memorial 
presented it according to order, which having been 
signed by the president, was on the next day given to 
the Assembly.* 

Clark had not sent in his resignation even after 
remaining in Richmond over two months ; however, 
nothing in his instructions to the officer left in com- 
mand at Fort Nelson, or in letters to the County 
Lieutenants of the counties of Jefferson and Lincoln, 
Kentucky, indicated his intention of returning to his 

* See Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. Ill, pp. 
492, 493. It will be noticed that, by Clark's appointment 
as one of the committee to superintend the 'surveyors em^ 
ployed to survey the lands which had been granted them in 
the West, he intended to return to Kentucky. 



496 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

command and again assuming the direction of mili- 
tary affairs in the West. And now the State of Vir- 
ginia, for reasons set forth in a communication to 
him from its Governor, had no longer a desire to 
continue him in office: 

"In Council, July 2d, 1783. 
"Sir : The conclusion of the war, and the distressed situ- 
ation of the State with respect to its finances, call on us to 
adopt the most prudent economy. It is for this reason 
alone I have come to a determination to give over all 
thoughts for the present of carrying on an offensive war 
against the Indians, which you will' easily perceive will 
render the services of a general officer in that quarter un- 
necessary ; and [you] will therefore consider yourself as 
out of command ; but before I take leave of you, I feel 
myself called upon in the most forcible manner to return you 
my thanks and those of my Council, for the very great and 
singular services you have rendered your country in wrest- 
ing so great and valuable a territory out of the hands of the 
British enemy, repelling the attacks of their savage allies, and 
carrying on successful war in the heart of their country. This 
tribute of praise and thanks so justly due, I am happy to 
communicate to you as the united voice of the Executive! I 
am, with respect Sir, yours, "etc., 

"Benjamin Harrison."* 

But Clark, although no longer in the service of his 
State, lost none of his interest in affairs down the 
Ohio. On the twelfth of October, before returning to 
the Falls (Louisville), he wrote Governor Harrison: 

"Sir: I have been informed that your Excellency hath 
lately received despatches from the Westward. Being anxious 
to know the success of the Commission to the Chickasaws in- 
duces me to take the liberty of writing to you, hoping that 
some moments of leisure might offer, and that your Excel- 

* This letter of dismissal has been several times pub- 
lished. Concerning Virginia's subsequent treatment of Clark, 
see Appendix to our narrative. Note CXXXIX. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 497 

lency would honor me with the information. From report, I 
fear all is not well in that quarter. I hope, Sir, that you 
will pardon this intrusion; and [I] beg leave to subscribe 
myself your Excellency's humble servant."* 

After Clark had become a private citizen, the 
General Assembly of his state recognized the fact of 
his signal services, by the passage, in October, 1783, 
of an act laying off a town on the opposite side of the 
Ohio from Louisville, naming it "Clarksville," and 
constituting him one of its trustees. 

Clark's return in the latter half of the year last 
mentioned to the West brought with it no particular 
demonstration on the part of the citizens of Kentucky, 
and he soon engaged at the Falls in private business. f 
But the Congress of the United States honored him 
with an appointment as "commissioner plenipoten- 
tiary," along with two others, to hold a treaty with 
the Ohio Indians. As a result, "the treaty of Fort 
Mcintosh" was concluded January 21, 1785, between 
"George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler and Arthur 
Lee," of the one part, and the sachems and warriors 
of the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa and Ottawa na- 
tions, of the other. 

Virginia, by her deed of cession of her claims to 
the territory northwest of the Ohio in March, 1784, 
to the United States, and the acceptance by the Gen- 
eral Government of the same, confirmed the grant of 
lands previously made to Clark and the soldiers who 
were in the service under him; yet, as it may be 
premised, this did not result for a long time to their 

* Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. Ill, p. 535. 

t At least one of the employments he made arrangements 
to engage in, was that of purveyor of "buffalo beef, bear's 
meat, deer hams and bear oil," for the denizens of Louisville. 

32 



498 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

advantage for the reason that the hostile savages 
beyond the Ohio prevented surveys being made.* 

The year 1786 found Clark still engaged on behalf 
of the General Government as Commissioner to en- 
deavor to bring the savages beyond the Ohio into 
proper relations with the United States ; and another 
treaty was conducted, — this time between "George 
Rogers Clark, Richard Butler, and Samuel H. Par- 
sons for the United States," with the Shawanese In- 
dians, January 31, the year last mentioned, at the 
mouth of the Great INliami river, where a fortifica- 
tion was erected for that purpose, called Fort Finney.f 

After the return of Clark from Fort Finney to 
Louisville, much of his time for some months was 
given up to a voluntary consideration of public af- 
fairs because of the alarming increase of Indian hos- 
tilities. The presence of imminent danger changed to 
a considerable extent the feeling of the Kentucky 
people who had harbored prejudice against him;f for 
yet fresh in their minds w^ere his success over the 
savages beyond the Ohio ; and they were now inclined 
to look to him again for advice and aid, as they 
saw^ he was in favor of marching against the Indians 
— particularly those upon the Wabash, 

Benjamin Logan, County Lieutenant of Lincoln 
county, Kentucky, wrote the Virginia governor on the 
nineteenth of April, giving an account of recent Indian 

* Appendix, Note CXL. 

■\ Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
vol. VII : Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny, p. 263. 

X One of their complaints had been that Clark, as Com- 
missioner, was trifling with the savages when the latter were 
really plundering the settlers; but, of course, there was no 
truth in the accusation. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 499 

marauds — adding, that he thought it his duty to in- 
form the Governor of the circumstances and that 
General Clark was in the county of Jefferson, and had 
recovered from a low state of health, and was ''likely 
to be able to serve the public.""^ 

"I make no doubt," wrote Clark, in May, from 
Louisville to Governor Henry, "you have long since 
had a full account of the late Indian treaties at the 
mouth of the Miami. . . . What future effect 
they may have on the nations treated with it is im- 
possible to tell; but some good consequences hav^ 
already appeared in the peaceable behavior of some 
of those Indians. Notwithstanding, I do not think 
that this country [Kentucky], even in its infant state, 
bore so gloomy an aspect as it does at present. The 
loss of Colonel Christian (whom the inhabitants had 
great future hopes in) hath caused general uneasiness ; 
[and we can] add to this the certainty of a war already 
commenced, and early this Spring declared, by the 
Wabash Indians in general, amounting in the whole 
to upwards of fifteen hundred warriors, encouraged 
by the British traders from Detroit, and their own in- 
clination. 

"When you take a view of our situation," con- 
tinued Clark, "circumstanced as we are — no prospect 
of support, at best for several months; so formid- 
able and bloody an enemy to encounter ; much irreg- 
ularity in the [Kentucky] country; no power to 
order the militia out of the State for its protection; 
[because of these things] ... I doubt [not 
a] great part of these beautiful settlements will be laid 
to waste if they are not protected by volunteers pen- 

* Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. IV, p. 120. 



500 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

etrating into the heart of the enemy's country. Noth- 
ing else will do. Scouts and forts on the frontiers 
answer but little purpose, and in the end cost more 
than an army that would do the business effectually 
at once. 

"Were a sufficient force to appear in their coun- 
try after a general action which I think should take 
place, they would sue for peace, and agree to any 
terms you pleased [to make] to save their country 
from total destruction. Such an example would have 
a great and good impression on those Indians already 
treated with, as fear would cause them to be peace- 
able, when presents make them believe we are afraid 
of them, and [are] rather an encouragement for them 
to make war upon us when they get poor. This is a 
notorious truth well known by those that are ac- 
quainted with their dispositions."* 

But Clark's letter was not received until after the 
Executive Council of Virginia had taken action for 
the better protection of Kentucky. On the fifteenth 
of the same month in which Clark wrote, the Board 
determined that Governor Henry should direct the 
field officers of the Kentucky militia to assemble and 
take the necessary measures for the protection of the 
settlements (that it would, when so assembled, take the 
advice . of Clark and order an expedition against the 
Indians, was a foregone conclusion). The Governor 
prepared instructions in accordance with orders re- 
ceived from the Executive Council and sent them at 
once to the County Lieutenants of Kentucky. 

* Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. IV, p. 122. 
Col. Wm. Christian, spoken of by Clark, was killed by the 
Indians about the middle of April previous (see the vol. just 
cited, p. 119). 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST,' ETC, 501 

On the twelfth of July, Levi Todd, County Lieu- 
tenant of Fayette County, wrote Governor Henry 
acknowledging receipt of instructions. The field of- 
ficers would have a meeting at Harrodsburg on the 
second day of August. There would be an expedi- 
tion determined upon against the Wabash and White 
River Indians ; but Todd adds : 

" Tis hard to say where we have the greatest 
number of enemies. Within this three weeks past, the 
whole of the north and west frontier of the District 
[of Kentucky] has been struck by small parties [of 
savages]. Much mischief has been done in different 
parts of the District this summer and much property 
lost. I conceive that all our neighboring Indians are 
just now commencing war avowedly. Much Kentucky 
blood will be spilt, though I hope that vigorous oper- 
ations the ensuing fall will make much in our favor. 
The Wabash Indians have repeatedly said that the 
Kentucky people dare not march to the Wabash. Our 
patience hitherto has much encouraged and increased 
the number of our enemies. Necessity compels us 
now to pursue a different conduct. I fear it will be 
difficult to get ammunition in time. Provisions, I 
believe, may be procured. There is plenty in the Dis- 
trict. ... I am of opinion it would have been 
very agreeable to the District had General Clark been 
commissioned a General Officer for the present oc- 
casion."* 

"The Americans living there [at Vincennes]," 
wrote John May to Governor Henry, on the four- 
teenth of July, "have been very much distressed by 
the Indians ever since last winter, and have every 

* Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. IV, p. 155. 



502 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

reason to believe that they [the savages] were en- 
couraged to continue their hostiHties by the French 
inhabitants, who have not only refused the Ameri- 
cans any assistance, but would not suffer them to 
make use of the cannon which were left there for 
their defense at a fort which they were obliged to 
build ; and when they, the French, were written to 
on the subject by General Clark, they returned for 
answer that they had nothing to do with the United 
States, but considered themselves as British subjects 
and should obey no other power. I understand there 
are British traders amongst them, who keep up this 
idea ; and as Congress seems to have totally neg- 
lected them, it is not to be wondered at if they should 
still think themselves under the British government, 
especially when they see that the several British posts, 
which they were told were to be delivered up to the 
Americans, are still in the possession of the British. 

"The Americans were very lately attacked by the 
Indians, but they repulsed them, whereupon Colonel 
Legras . . . issued his proclamation ordering all 
Americans to move away. They are now closely con- 
fined within their fort or houses and have every 
reason to expect the French will assist the Indians 
against them, and are under the most dreadful appre- 
hensions of being totally cut off. 

''The Wabash Indians and most of the Shawa- 
nese are all at war with us and put to death in 
a most cruel manner all the prisoners who are so 
unfortunate as to fall into their hands. 
There are now letters here [in Lincoln county, Ken- 
tucky] from Vincennes requesting in the most mov- 
ing terms, that assistance may be sent the Americans 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 503 

to enable them to move away, and offering to give 
up every shilling's worth of property they possess in 
order to defray the expenses of moving them. There 
had a party of militia amounting to about one hun- 
dred and thirty m.en marched a few days before 
this intelligence came to hand to attack a party of 
Indians who were encamped on the other side of the 
Ohio, some distance below the Falls ; but, upon Gen- 
eral Clark's receiving the letter, he sent expresses after 
them and requested them to proceed immediately to 
the post [Vincennes]. 

"This country had determined to carry on a vol- 
unteer campaign against the Indians in August next, 
but your instructions have changed the plan, and they 
are now preparing for a regular campaign. I find 
that it is the unanimous opinion of the inhabitants 
of this country that General Clark is the properest 
person to take the command here, and (notwith- 
standing the opinion which prevails below of his not 
being capable of attending to business) I am of the 
same opinion with the rest of the country. I have 
been with him frequently and find him as capable 
of business as ever, and should an expedition be car- 
ried against the Indians I think his name alone would 
be worth half a regiment of men. . . . Colonel 
Logan is acquainted with the contents of this letter 
and has authorized me to say that in case a general 
officer should be appointed, he thinks General Clark's 
abilities and experience entitle him to the appoint- 
ment."* 

* Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. IV, pp. 156, 
157. Concerning what is meant in this letter by Clark "not 
being capable of attending to business" as believed by some 
people, will presently more fully appear. 



504 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Already, however, had it been determined by the 
general voice of the people, that Clark (though with- 
out any commission in the militia), was to lead a 
strong force into the Indian country.* 

On the tenth of August, Lieutenant Colonel Josiah 
Harmar wrote from Fort Harmar, mouth of the Mus- 
kingum river, that one of his officers had arrived 
from the Miami (Fort Finney) and had brought in- 
telligence that ''an expedition was forming under the 
command of General Clark, and authorized by the 
State of Virginia, to attack the Indians."t But the 
authority spoken of was, in reality, confined to 
measures for protection of the frontier, and there 
was no power granted (nor could there be) by the 
Executive of the State to compel the militia to march 
across the Ohio, which now was the border line. 
However, an opinion by the Attorney General and 
Supreme Judges of the District of Kentucky that the 
Executive of Virginia had delegated all their power 
under the law and Articles of Confederation, so far as 
they related to invasion, insurrections, and impress- 
ments, to the field officers of the District, and that 
these officers in consequence thereof had a right to 
impress, if necessary, all supplies for the use of the 
militia that might be called into service by their order 
or orders under the order of CouncilJ — was con- 
strued to authorize an expedition into the Indian 
country. Therefore, "in consequence of the instruc- 
tions from your Excellency and the advice of Coun- 

"^ Compare Denny's Journal, p. 293. 

t See the same vol., p. 490. 

t Opinio n of the Attorney General and Supreme Judges 
of the District of Kentucky. This may be found printed in 
Dunn's Indiana, p. 171. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 505 

cil, of the 1 6th of May," wrote Todd to the Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, on the twenty-ninth of August, 
"the field officers assembled from every county and 
a great majority of the whole, in the District. We 
unanimously resolved that an expedition against the 
Wabash and other inimical Indians in that quarter 
was, at this time, justifiable and necessary. 
General Clark was appointed to command the army, 
which is to rendezvous at Clarksville on the loth of 
September. We expect our number will be between 
1,500 and 2,000. A great part of the necessary sup- 
plies is given up to the officers by consent [that is, 
voluntarily by the people] with expectation of being 
paid by government; and some [is] procured by 
impressment.''"^ 

xVbout one thousand men under Clark marched 
from Clarksville for Vincennes and reached the 
vicinity of that place early in October, where for nine 
days they waited the arrival of provisions and stores 
which had been shipped on keelboats from Louisville 
and Clarksville. About one half the provisions was 
spoiled when the boats arrived and what had been 
moved by land was almost exhausted. The troops 
were ordered to move up the Wabash (they having 
been reinforced by a considerable number of the in- 
habitants of Vincennes) to attack the Indian towns 
on that river. On reaching the neighborhood of the 
mouth of the Vermillion river, Clark found that the 
villages of the savages on that river were deserted. 

At this crisis, when the spirits of the officers and 
men were depressed by disappointment, hunger and 
fatigue, some persons circulated throughout the camp 

* Levi Todd to Gov. Henry, from Fayette county — 
Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. IV, p. 166. 



506 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

a rumor that General Clark had sent a flag of truce 
to the Indians, with the offer of peace or war. This 
report, combined with a lamentable change which 
had taken place in the once temperate, bold, energetic, 
and commanding character of Clark, excited among 
the troops a spirit of insubordination which neither 
the commands, nor the entreaties, nor the tears of the 
General could subdue. Three hundred of his men 
in a body left the army and marched homeward. 
Clark then returned with the remainder to Vincennes.* 

''Never had General Clark led so unfortunate a 
party [as that of 1786, against the savages of the 
Wabash,]" writes one of Kentucky's historians; 
"hitherto victory seemed to have hung with delight 
upon his banner; and for him to appear was to 
conquer all opposing difliculties. At the same time, 
mournful as the truth is, and reluctlantly as the record 
is wrung from the author. General Clark was no longer 
the same man, as the conquerer of Kaskaskia and the 
captor of Vincennes/'t Strong drink had conquered 
him.t 

Once again at Vincennes, Clark and his fellow- 
oflicers agreed that to establish a garrison there would 
be of essential service to Kentucky; and the Gen- 
eral, assuming "supreme direction," at once began 
to carry out the plan. However, in the end, his high- 
handed assumption of what was really a doubtful 
authority — his seizure of Spanish property in Vin- 
cennes, his attempts to hold Indian treaties without 
the direction of Congress, and other aggressions — 
frustrated the design, the Virginia Council disavow- 

* Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 185, 186. 

t Mann Butler : History of Kentucky, pp. 152, 153. 

X But of this more will presently be said. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 507 

ing all his acts and the United States ordering the 
commanding officer of the troops of the General 
Government on the Ohio to effectually put a stop to 
the movement. This was in the spring of 1787. 

The failure of Clark in his expedition against the 
Wabash Indians and the course pursued by him in en- 
deavoring to found a military post at Vincennes, 
proved a blow to his influence from which he never 
recovered. 

On the seventh of March, 1791, "when Indian 
hostilities w^ere spreading terror through the West, 
and the authorities wxre casting about for a satis- 
factory commander for the frontier troops," Jefferson 
wrote to Innis of Kentucky : "Will it not be possi- 
ble for you to bring General Clark forward? I know 
the greatness of his mind, and am the more mortified 
at the cause which obscures it. Had not this un- 
happily taken place, there was nothing he might not 
have hoped : could it be surmounted, his lost ground 
might yet be recovered. No man alive rated him 
higher than I did, and would again, were he to be- 
come again what I knew him."* But it was too late- 
Such was the mastery intemperance had gained over 
him that his advancement to such a command was 
out of the question. t 

Once again, however, an effort was made by Clark 
to engage in public affairs, but it was both discred- 
itable and transient — an attempt on his part in favor 
of France against the Spanish on the Mississippi, when 
Genet, the French minister, undertook to raise and 
organize a force in Kentucky for a secret expedition 

* Jefferson's Works, vol. Ill, p. 218. 
t Appendix, Note CXLI. 



508 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

— Clark accepting in 1793 a commission as Major- 
General to conduct the enterprise. But Genet was 
recalled and Clark's commission annulled. After this, 
he sunk into almost total obscurity, remembered only 
as one of the most valorous of western patriots of 
the Revolution. 

Clark never married,''' He was a stout, rather 
short, square man, with a high broad forehead, sandy 
hair, blue eyes, and heavy shaggy eye-brows. His 
portrait indicates more than ordinary intellectual 
ability. t Though of quick temper, he was very com- 
panionable. His last years were spent all by himself 
in a rude dwelling on Corn island, until a sister took 
him to her home at Locust Grove near Louisville. 
He was in infirm health a long time. He died Feb- 
ruary 13, 1818, and was buried in Cave Hill ceme- 
tery, in what is now a suburb of that city. Of the 
Virginians, who nobly and unselfishly helped, during 
the Revolution, in the cause of liberty, history names 
with pride among the many), Washington and Jef- 
ferson, Henry and Mason, Harrison and Clark. 

* Appendix, Note CXLII. 
t Appendix, Note CXLIII. 



APPENDIX, 



(509) 



APPENDIX. 



NOTE I. 
Clark's visit to Kentucky in 1775. 

THE year 1775 was [is] memorable for the 
arrival of that most daring and sagacious 
officer, George Rogers Clark, who was soon 
destined to intertwine his memory with honors," 
. . . (Butler's Kentucky, pp. 35, 36). It is sug- 
gested that not at the date given was Clark an officer ; 
he held no office civil or military during that year.* 
Again, that writer says (p. 37) : "Early in 1775 
Clark visited Kentucky ... In this visit, he either 
had a commission of major, or was, from his service 
in Dunmore's war and prominent talents, voluntarily 
placed at the head of the irregular troops then in Ken- 
tucky." But there were no "irregular troops" then in 
Kentucky. 

"During this visit [to Kentucky, in 1775] he 
[Clark] was temporarily placed in command of the 
irregular militia of the settlements; but whether he 
held a commission is not known.". [Collins's Ken- 
tucky ed. of 1877), p. 133.] Collins, in this, follows 
Butler, only making the statement more erroneous 
by substituting "irregular militia" for "irregular 
troops." 

* The spelling of Clark's name with an e at the end, by 
Butler, was undoubtedly a typographical error; for that 
writer afterwards gives, in most instances, the correct or- 
thography. 

(511) 



512 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

NOTE 11. 
Clark's memoir. 

The first suggestion of Clark's Memoir published, 
was by Thomas Jefferson. In writing to James Innes, 
March 7, 1791, concerning Clark, he said: "We are 
made to hope he is engaged in writing the accounts 
of his expeditions north of the Ohio. They will be 
valuable morsels of history, and will justify to the 
world thbse who have told them how great he was 
[Jefferson's Works, vol. Ill, p. 218]." From this 
it would seem that Clark had intended to make his 
Memoir more comprehensive — to include accounts of 
all his "expeditions north of the Ohio" — than it was 
finally written. 

As to the exact date when the Memoir was com- 
pleted, there is no information extant. If its heading 
be taken literally, it must have been written after 
the fourth of March, 181 7, and before the eighteenth 
of February of the next year, as Monroe was inaugu- 
rated on the day first mentioned and Clark died on 
the day last given. It is clear, however, from the 
wording, that the heading is no clue to the period when 
the Memoir was composed. It is safe to conclude that 
it was not written until near the close of the century; 
and there are circumstances making it seem probable 
that it was not finished until several years later. 

The Memoir was first used by Mann Butler in his 
Kentucky (in both editions of that work). In the 
Preface to his first edition (1834), Butler says: 

"In the first place are the papers of Gen. George 
Rogers Clark; these contain a memoir by the great 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 513 

western hero, of his pubHc services, from 1775 to 
1779. These periods embrace the most interesting 
epochs ; the papers also include an interesting cor- 
respondence with Patrick Henry and Jefferson, the 
early and distinguished governors of Virginia, as with 
many military officers in the western country. These 
documents are now, after more than the lapse of half 
a century, for the first time submitted to the public."* 

"Butler's words, ''after more than the lapse of 
half a century," refer, o.f course, to Clark's corres- 
pondence — not to his Memoir. That historian relies 
implicitly upon all the statements of the latter, with 
one or two exceptions; but what is more objectionable 
is his frequent interpolation of unreliable traditions, — 
with the result that most of these have been taken by 
many subsequent writers of Western history as veri- 
table accounts and frequently have been enlarged 
upon. 

The next to use the Memoir was James T. More- 
head, in his address of May 25, 1840, at Boones- 
borough. In the publication of his effort, in a note 
appended thereto, Morehead says (p. 165) : 

"The life and campaigns of General George Rogers 
Clark would be a most valuable accession to our West- 
ern history, and I am gratified to be able to state that 
the materials for such a work are in a state of pre- 
paration by L. Bliss, Jr., Esq., of Louisville. That 
gentleman has been so obliging as to submit to my 
perusal the autograph memoir of the distinguished 

* But these documents, in their entirety, are by no means 
"submitted to the public" in that author's history. They are 
used, simply, by him and, in some instances, not at all 
judiciously. 

33 



514 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

soldier, commencing with the period of his visit to 
Kentucky in 1776 [1775] and closing with the year 
1777 [1779]. I have drawn freely upon it, although 
Mr. Butler's delightful narratives of the Illinois cam- 
paigns covered pretty much the same ground." 

Morehead condenses the Memoir into about a dozen 
pages of his Address, following the story without at- 
tempting to add traditionary accounts, and adopting its 
errors — to him of course unknown. 

Dillon's publication of the Memoir, in his history 
of Indiana (ed. of 1843, pp. 127-184; of 1859, pp. 
1 1 5- 1 67), is a literal copy of most of it. What he 
leaves not copied, he generally essays to supply in a 
condensed manner, in the nature of interpolations. 

The three publications we have enumerated are, 
it is believed, sufficient to give the real import of 
every statement of any importance in this the labored 
recital of Clark; but care must be taken, particularly, 
to separate Butler's traditionary accounts from the 
residue of the narrative; which is not a difficult task. 

Estimates, in detached sentences, of the general 
character of Clark's Memoir, are given by several 
late writers. Roosevelt is perhaps, on the whole, 
most severe in his strictures. In his The Winning of 
the West, vol. II, he says : 

[i.] "Clark has left a full MSS. memoir of the 
events of 1777, 1778 and 1779. It was used exten- 
sively by Mann Butler, . . . and is printed almost 
complete by Dillon, on pp. 1 15-167 of his Indiana,' 
It was written at the desire of Presidents Jefferson 
and Madison ; and therefore some thirty or forty year^ 
after the events of which it speaks. Valuable though 
it is, . . . it would be still rnore valuable had it 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 515 

been written earlier; it undoubtedly contains some 
rather serious errors [p. 36n]." 

[2.] "The 'Memoir/ written by an old man who 
had squandered his energies and sunk into deserved 
obscurity, is tedious and magniloquent, and sometimes 
inaccurate [p. 55n]." 

[3.] "The account written by Clark [that is, his 
'Memoir'] in his old age, like Shelby's similar auto- 
biography, is, in many respects, not very trustworthy. 
It cannot be accepted for a moment where it conflicts 
with any contemporary accounts [p. 57n]." 

[4.] "When Clark wrote his memoirs, in his old 
age, he took delight in writing down among his ex- 
ploits all sorts of childish stratagems; the marvel is 
that any sane historian should not have seen that these 
were on their face as untrue as they were ridiculous 
[p. 63n]." 

[5,] "In the latter [that is, in his Memoir], Clark 
makes not a few direct misstatements, and many de- 
tails are colored so as to give them an altered aspect 
[p. 8rn]." 

[6.] "Unfortunately, most of the small western 
historians who have written about Clark have really 
damaged his reputation by the absurd inflation of their 
language. They were adepts in the forcible-feeble 
style of writing. . . Moreover, they base his claims 
to greatness not on his really great deeds, but on the 
half-imaginary feats of childish cunning he related 
[in his Memoir] in his old age [p. 8in]." 

Although the Memoir contains many errors, some 
of which were without doubt intentionally made, it is, 
nevertheless, of much value in throwing light on dark ' 



516 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

passages to be found in Clark's early letters. It must, 
however, always be consulted with care, and its asser- 
tions closely scrutinized, to separate what is true from 
that which is erroneous. Wherever are brought for- 
ward his own deeds of valor or shrewdness, there is 
the greater necessity for a more careful and critical 
examination. As to the probable reason for most of 
the short-comings of the Memoir, see this Appendix, 
Note CLI. 



NOTE III. 

DATE OF LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR HAMILTON'S ARRIVAL 
AT DETROIT. 

"In the month of April, 1775, I was appointed 
Lieutenant Governor and Superintendent of the set- 
tlement of Detroit at a salary of £200. In the month 
of September following, Sir Guy Carleton sent me to 
that post with verbal orders, the state of the Province 
[of Quebec] at that time pressing my departure." 
(Hamilton's Memorial to the Commissioners of His 
Majesty's Treasury, MSS.) 

. . . "Immediately on my arrival here (which 
was on the 9th of November last)" . ^ . are words 
used by him to the Earl of Dartmouth from Detroit, 
August 29 to September 2, 1776. (Haldimand MSS.) 

Bancroft (History of the United States, ed." of 
1885, vol. IV, p. 148) is ignorant of the date of Hamil- 
ton's arrival. He speaks of him as seeking to influence 
the Indians of the Northwest against the Colonies as 
early as in April, 1775, — which, of course, is error. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 517 
NOTE IV. 

dodge's interview with the savages at SANDUSKY. 

Dodge says a party of savages from the neighbor- 
hood of the lakes came to his house on their way to 
the frontiers to strike a blow. He inquired of them 
why they had taken up the hatchet. They replied 
that Governor Hamilton had told them that the Amer- 
icans were going to murder them all and take their 
lands, but if they would join him they would be able 
to drive them off ; and that he would give them twenty 
dollars a scalp. On this, Dodge repeated to the war- 
riors the Continental "talk" held with the Indians 
at Pittsburgh in October previous ; and, making them 
a small present, they returned home, believing as he 
told them, that the Governor was a liar and meant 
to deceive them. 

It is evident that the Indians practiced upon 
Dodge's credulity in their relation, as an excuse for 
their going upon the war path; for it is certain that 
Hamilton had not directed them to take up the hatchet, 
nor had he offered a reward for American scalps. 
And here it may be said that it is not beyond the bounds 
of probability that Dodge does not adhere strictly to 
the truth in his story. 



518 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 
NOTE V. 

GEORGE morgan's EARLY DESIGNS AGAINST THE ILLI- 

• NOIS HIS LETTER TO WINSTON AND 

KENNEDY AT THAT PLACE. 

"Lower Shawnese Town, 
"July 6th, 1776. 
"Gentlemen, 

"This is all the paper I have left and this country affords 
no more, therefore I cannot write so fully as I wish. 

"The bearer. Silver Heels, I have promised sixty dollars 
to carry this letter to you and bring your answer. What you 
advance to him you must advise me of. 

"I am now here on public business for the United Colonies. 
I want to know the exact situation of affairs at the Illinois, 
and what quantity of flour and beef you could furnish a 
company or two of men with at Kaskaskia, the 25th of next 
December. This information I will depend on you for by the 
return of Silver Heels, who ought to be at Pittsburgh as early 
in September as possible, as there is a great treaty to be 
held in that month with all the Western Nations. If one 
of you could come along with him it may be much to your 
advantage, but you should be very secret with respect to your 
business. 

"From what passed between Mr. Kennedy and myself I 
was in hopes you would have sent a parcel of horses and breed 
mares (particularly the latter of the Spanish breed) by land 
to Pittsburgh or Philada. I have never since then heard 
from you. The conveyance between New Orleans and Philada. 
is now blocked up by the misunderstanding between the 
Colonies and Britain. We are contending for our liberties 
and have hitherto succeeded beyond our hopes, for Quebec is 
the only post now occupied by the British forces in AmeVica. 

"I have now to request that you will purchase and send 
to me at Pittsburgh so as to arrive there next October or 
November fifteen, twenty or thirty of the best mares and 
geldings or horses you can purchase and in May following 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 519 

as many more — always preferring breeding mares or fillies 
of the Spanish breed and none to exceed 8 or 9 years old — 
for all which I will either allow you the cost and charges, or 
what they shall be valued at on their arrival at Pittsburgh by 
two persons to be mutually chosen by us or our attornies as 
you shall advise me by Silver Heels' return. 

"I have some time since undertaken the disposal of the 
lands in Indiana on the Retribution Grant for the proprietors ; 
of whom your R. Winston is one and considerably interested. 
I suppose his share will be near £3,000 sterling. They have 
appointed me Secretary and Receiver General of the Land 
Office, but the troubles prevent my proceeding further at 
present, especially as I am much engaged as Superintendent 
for Indian Affairs. But I think it will be well worthy your 
R. Winston's making a trip this way with Silver Heels. -— 
By him I will expect at least 3 or 4 of the handsomest breed- 
ing mares you can purchase and send to me. 

''Tomorrov/ I shall set out on my return to Pittsburgh 
where I shall generally reside and hope to hear very particu- 
larly from you if I do not see you with Silver Heels. 

"I am with regard 

"Your most obedient 

"George Morgan. 

"Whatever remittances you can make in the bill way will 
be very acceptable. What could a few thousand pounds 
weight of powder and lead be purchased for at the Illinois? 
Do acquaint me with the price of dry goods in General. 
Encourage your friends to send an adventure to Pittsburgh 
this fall or next spring of Stroud, which sell there for £22.10 
p. piece. Match coats are worth from £30 to £35. Linnens, 
such as used to sell at 2/6 and 3/-, are now 6/- and 
9/-. Powder and lead are in great demand. 

''To Messrs. Winston and Kennedy, Illinois."* 

*From the Haldimand MSS. 



520 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 
NOTE VI. 

THE HARRODSBURG MEETING OF JUNE 6, I776. 

"All Kentucky was still considered as a part of 
Fincastle county and the inhabitants were therefore 
unrepresented at the capital. They determined to 
remedy this ; and after due proclamation, gathered 
together at Harrodstown early in June, 1776. During 
five days an election was held, and two delegates were 
chosen to go to Williamsburg, then the seat of gov- 
ernment. This was done at the suggestion of Clark." 
(Roosevelt's* T/i^ Winning of the West, vol. I, pp. 318, 
319). But Clark expressly states the meeting contin- 
ued but a single day. 

It is generally stated by those writers who follow 
Butler and who essay to give the particulars of the 
Harrodsburg meeting that the two delegates were 
aware they could not obtain seats in the Virginia As- 
sembly ; but had this been the case, they would hardly 
have pressed the matter for admission, which they sub- 
sequently did, as will hereafter appear. Butler says: 

"At this time, the claim of Henderson and Com- 
pany, acquired under the treaty of Wataga, in March, 
'75, with the Cherokees, made a great deal of noise, 
and added no little to the perplexities of the settlers. 
It became uncertain whether the south side of the 
Kentucky river appertained to Virginia or to North 
Carolina. These difficulties increased the necessity of 
ascertaining the disposition of the former ; on the 6th 
of June, at the suggestion of Clark, a general meeting 
took place in Harrod's Town, at which he and Gabriel 
John Jones were chosen members of the Assembly of 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 621 

Virginia. This, however, was not the course intended 
by Clark ; he wanted the people to choose agents with 
general powers to negotiate with the Government of 
Virginia, and if abandoned by it, to employ the lands 
of the country, as a fund to obtain settlers, and estab- 
lish an independent State. The election had, however, 
proceeded too far to change its object, when Clark, 
who had been detained, arrived at the town ; the gen- 
tlemen elected, although they were aware the choice 
would give them no seat in the Legislature, proceeded 
to Williamsburg, at that time the seat of Government 
[History of Kentucky, pp. 37, 38]" It will be noticed 
that Butler nozv sees in Clark's plan much more than 
the simple defense of the Kentucky settlements. 



NOTE VII. 

WHY POWDER WAS ASKED FOR BY CLARK AND JONES. 

The idea of getting a supply of powder for the in- 
fant settlements of Kentucky, and of watching their 
interests, were matters wholly foreign to the real object 
of the mission of Clark and Jones. The Harrodsburg 
meeting had not deputed them for that work. It was 
clearly an after-thought of the two "delegates." And, 
besides, it readily suggests the inquiry, why was the 
powder asked for ? Naturally it would be inferred that 
the reason was, the Indians, when Clark and Jones left 
the settlements, were constantly on the war-path south 
of the Ohio, and that ammunition was needed by the 
settlers. To a certain extent this was true, as will 
presently be shown. Enough savage aggressions had 
taken place to induce a general (but erroneous) belief 
that several of the Indian nations north of the Ohio 



522 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

were then "at open war" with the people on the bor- 
ders of Pennsylvania and Virginia. One of the prin- 
cipal men in the Kentucky settlements — John Floyd 
— the ablest of all Kentucky's early pioneers — re- 
volved in his mind the propriety of an expedition being 
carried forward across the Ohio to relieve the people 
at the stations, in one of which (Boonesborough), he 
was then living. ''If," he wrote on the twenty-first 
of July, "an expedition were carried on against those 
natives [of Indians] who are at open war with the 
people in general, we might be in a great measure re- 
lieved, by drawing them off to defend their towns." 
But, although it is altogether certain that the powder 
was intended for the settlers in defence of themselves 
and their families when attacked by lurking savages, 
the danger as yet was not as great as the borderers 
imagined or Clark apprehended. 

"On reaching the county of Botetourt," says But- 
ler, "it was found [by Jones and Clark] that the Leg- 
islature had adjourned; upon which Mr. Jones re- 
turned to the settlement on Holston, and left Clark to 
attend to the Kentucky mission." — History of Ken- 
tucky, p. 38. Here Jones is given too little credit and 
Clark too much. There was an excellent reason for 
Jones' return to Holston ; and Clark was not "left to 
attend to the Kentucky mission." 



NOTE VIIL 

MANN BUTLER ON CLARk's PLAN OF GOVERNMENT. 

Butler, absurdly enough, takes it for granted that, 
had Clark carried out his determination, in the event 
of the payment for the transportation of the powder 



History of clark's conquest, etc. 523 

having still been refused, and returned to Kentucky, 
the people would readily have fallen in with his plan, 
and that Kentucky would have become an independent 
State. : "This [the securing of the order for convey- 
ing the gun powder to Pittsburg] is the first step in 
the long and affectionate intercourse which has sub- 
sisted between Kentucky and her parent Common- 
wealth; and obvious as the reflection is, it may not be 
omitted, that, on the transportation of five hundred 
weight of gunpowder hung the connection between 
Virginia and the splendid domain which she obtained 
on the west of the Alleghany mountains [History of 
Kentucky, p. 40]." 



NOTE IX. 

FORMATION OF THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. 

The act as passed was entitled "An act for divid- 
ing the county of Fincastle into three distinct counties, 
and the parish of Botetourt into four distinct par- 
ishes ;" but the law did not take effect until "from and 
after the last day of December next ensuing ;" — in 
other words, on the first day of January, 1777. All 
that part of Fincastle county which lay "to the south 
and westward of a line beginning on the Ohio, at the 
mouth of Great Sandy creek, and running up the same 
and the main or northeasterly branch thereof to the 
Great Laurel Ridge, or Cumberland Mountain, thence 
southwesterly along the said mountain to the line of 
North Carolina, shall be one distinct county and called 
and known by the name of Kentucky." (Hening's 
Virginia Statutes at Large, Vol. IX, pp. 257, 258). 
Fincastle county became extinct. 



524 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ET^C. 

"At the fall session of the Legislature of Virginia, 
Messrs. Jones and Clark laid the Kentucky petition 
before that body ; they were of course not admitted 
to Legislative seats, though late in the session, in de- 
spite of the exertions of Cols. Henderson and Campbell, 
they obtained the erection of the County of Kentucky, 
which then embraced the limits of the present State 
of that name. Thus our political organization was 
principally obtained by the generous daring of George 
Rogers Clark, who must be ranked as the earliest 
founder of the Commonzvealth/' (Butler's Kentucky, 
p. 40.) But the ''generous daring" of Clark was not 
great, and his exertions were no more than those of 
his companion Jones ; besides, both were simply car- 
rying out instructions received from the people of the 
Kentucky settlements, which were in fact, as we have 
seen, not what Clark really desired. Neither Clark nor 
Jones was the earliest founder of Kentucky ; that honor 
belongs to no person or persons in particular, unless 
to the Transylvania Company. 



NOTE X. 



ON THE SUPPRESSION OF JOHN GABRIEL JONES S NAME 
IN KENTUCKY HISTORY. 

Roosevelt (The Winning of the West, Vol. I, p. 
321), although giving a circumstantial account of the 
Harrodsburg meeting — of the selection of the ''two 
delegates" — of their journey over the mountains — 
of the securing of the five hundred pounds of powder 
— of the formation of Kentucky as a separate county 
^of the transmission of the powder to Limestone 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 525 

creek — does not once mention the name of Jones : 
"Clark took the powder down the Ohio river" — 
''Clark's fellow delegate being among the killed," — 
''Before returning, Clark had attended the fall meeting 
of the Virginia Legislature" — "he [Clark] procured 
the admission of Kentucky as a separate county." 
[The italicising is mine]." 

And thus Bancroft {History of the United States, 
edition of 1885, Vol. V, p. 309) : 

"On the sixth of June, 1776, the emigrants to the 
region west of the Louisa river, at a general meeting 
in Harrodston [sic,] elected George Rogers Clark, then 
midway in his twenty-fourth year, and one other, to 
represent them in the assembly of Virginia, with a re- 
quest that their settlements might be constituted a 
county. Before they could cross the mountains, the 
legislature of Virginia had declared independence, es- 
tablished a government, and adjourned. In a later 
session they [Clark 'and one other'] were not admitted 
to seats in the house; but on the sixth of December, 
1776, the westernmost part of the State was incorpor- 
ated by the name of the county of Kentucky.' " 

Other writers also give (strange as it may seem) 
the whole credit to Clark for the favorable termination 
of the mission — the formation of a new county : 
"Our first political organization [the creation of Ken- 
tucky county] was . . . obtained through the sa- 
gacity, influence and exertions of George Rogers Clark, 
who must be ranked as the earliest founder of this 
commonwealth [that is, of Kentucky]." [Collins' 
Kentucky (Ed. of 1877), p. 135.] But that the suc- 
cess met with by the two "delegates" in the object at- 
tained — that is, in getting a new county created wa§ 



526 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

as much due to the labor and influence of Jones as of 
Clark there is not a doubt. 

"Early in 1775, Clark went to Kentucky and was 
occupied in surveying; but, as the western Indians 
were induced by the British to take up the tomahawk, he 
became the natural leader of the people in the defence 
of their infant settlements, was made a major of the 
militia in 1776, and chosen as a delegate to the Vir- 
ginia Convention, to urge upon the State authorities 
of the colony for government and defense. He arrived 
at Williamsburg just after the convention had ad- 
journed but succeeded in procuring the formation of 
the new county of Kentucky and a supply of ammuni- 
tion for the defense of the frontier." (Draper, in 
Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography Art. 
"George Rogers Clark.") 

This writer, during a period of nearly half a cen- 
tury, several times announced to the pubHc that he was 
gathering materials for a life of Clark ; but the "Life" 
never appeared. It is perhaps fortunate that it did 
not. The errors in the lines quoted are, ( i ) that Clark, 
in 1775, because of Indian marauds became the natural 
leader of the Kentuckians in the defense of their in- 
fant settlements; (2) that he was made a major of 
militia in 1776; and (3) that he alone (this is the in- 
ference) procured the formation of the county of Ken- 
tucky. 

"A great leader was needed on the frontier and 
one was at hand. George Rogers Clark, a young 
Virginian of extraordinary character, had settled in 
Kentucky in 1776. He had secured the organization 
of Kentucky as a county of Virginia ; he had persuaded 
the Executive Council to contribute 500 pounds of 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 527 

powder to the defense of the frontier; and now his 
fertile brain was developing a great project," — 
Dunn's Indiana, p. 132. (The italicising is mine.) 

"At the ensuing session of the General Assembly, 
Clark and Jones presented the memorial of the inhabit- 
ants of Kentucky, requesting that their delegates might 
be permitted to take seats in that body. It prayed also 
that the settlements on the western frontier might be 
considered as included within the territorial limits of 
Virginia, and that a company of riflemen should be 
sent to their relief. The petition setting forth their 
causes of complaint against the government of Tran- 
sylvania was offered at the same time. The General 
Assembly took all these subjects into earnest consider- 
ation. They did not, of course, recognize the delegates 
as legislators, but they were received and treated with 
great civility as citizens, and the grievances of their 
constituents were most respectfully heard. Col. Hen- 
derson was himself at Williamsburg, maintaining the 
validity of his purchase, and consequently of the title 
of the company to the land contained in the deed from 
the Cherokees. He was a man of considerable abilities, 
of persuasive eloquence, of interesting manners, and 
wielded an influence which was not without its weight 
in the councils of Virginia. But Clark was a compet- 
itor whose powers were not easily overcome. After a 
severe contest, the General Assembly declared against 
the title of the Transylvania company, and on the 7th 
of December, 1776, passed a law to establish the 
"County of Kentucky." — Morehead's Address, pp. 
55, 56. The injustice of naming Jones but once in this 
relation is manifest. The account was written after 
Clark became famous. 



528 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE XL 

AS TO THE TRANSMISSION OF THE GUNPOWDER DONATED 
BY VIRGINIA, TO THE KENTUCKY SETTLEMENTS. 

While it is true that, during the absence of Jones 
and Clark from the Kentucky settlements, Indian dep- 
redations had somewhat increased, nevertheless, most 
accounts of the return of these men depict, in too 
strong colors, the dangers which beset them on their 
journey from Pittsburg down the Ohio. Thus, in Col- 
linses Kentucky (ed. of 1877), p. 135, we read: 

''Having obtained these important advantages 
[that of a prospective representation in the Virginia 
Assembly, and a judicial and military establishment, 
by the creation of the county of Kentucky] from their 
mission, they [Clark and Jones] received the intelli- 
gence that the powder was still at Pittsburg, and they 
determined to take that point in their route home, and 
bring it with them. The country around Pittsburg 
swarmed with Indians, evidently hostile to the whites, 
who would no doubt seek to interrupt their voyage. 
These circumstances created a necessity for the utmost 
caution as well as expedition in their movements, and 
they accordingly hastily embarked on the Ohio with 
only seven boatmen. They were hotly pursued the 
whole way by Indians, but succeeded in keeping in 
advance until they arrived at the mouth of Limestone 
creek, at the spot where the city of Maysville now 
stands. They ascended this creek a short distance with 
their boat, and concealed their cargo at different places 
in the woods along its banks. They then turned their 
boat adrift, and directed their course to Harrodstown, 
intending to return with a sufficient escort to injure the 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 529 

safe transportation of the powder to its destination. 
This in a short time was successfully effected, and the 
colonists were thus abundantly supplied with the means 
of defense against the fierce enemies who beset them 
on all sides." Afterward, in the same work, we have 
the following account (pp. 466, 467) : 

"The five hundred pounds of powder which Maj. 
George Clark and John Gabriel Jones procured, by 
order of the Council of Virginia, on August 23, 1776, 
at Pittsburg, for the relief of the settlers in Kentucky, 
they brought down the Ohio and secreted at the Three 
Islands in what is now Lewis county, near Manchester, 
Ohio, and about eleven miles above Limestone (Mays- 
ville). Col. John Todd and a party of men were sent 
after this powder under the guidance of [John] Ga- 
briel Jones ; but, on December 25, 1776, when near the 
Lower Blue Lick, being attacked by Indians and Jones, 
William Graden and Josiah Dixen killed, [they] aban- 
doned the expedition., January 2, 1777, at Harrods- 
burg. Col. James HarrisoH- raised a company of about 
thirty men to go after the powder. . . They went 
by McClellan's fort (now Georgetown), the Lower 
Blue Lick and May's Lick, then turned to the right a 
little and struck the Ohio at or near the mouth of 
Cabin creek." (See, also, pp. 552 and 656 of the same 
work). On the page last mentioned are some addi- 
tional facts. One account makes the place where the 
first party started for the powder as McClelland's 
station, — the attack as having been on Johnson's Fork 
of Licking, and that Joseph Rogers was taken pris- 
oner. But it gives the number of the party erroneously 
as nine, and the date of the encounter as the 28th of 
December. 
34 



530 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Tradition has caused the most absurd mixing of 
facts with error concerning the journey of Jones and 
Clark from Pittsburg: 

"Having at length performed the whole of his 
mission, Clark proceeded, early in the spring of 1777, 
to Fort Pitt, in order to attend personally to the trans- 
portation of the powder, which still remained at that 
point waiting his orders. This he embarked on a flat 
boat, and in company with Mr. Jones and four other 
men, committed himself and his treasure to the current 
of the beautiful river [the Ohio]. But scarcely had 
they floated out of sight of the garrison flag when they 
saw a canoe stealing forth from the bank, and knew 
at once they were watched by the savages. From this 
point the pursuit was unremitting, for the Indians had 
learned that the solitary ark bore the fortune of the 
detested Big Knives of Kentucky. 

"We know of nothing that shows more strikingly 
by the tireless perseverence of these people than this 
long chase from Pittsburg into the heart of Kentucky, 
a distance of five hundred miles ; at the end of which 
they were so close upon their prey that Clark himself 
was only saved from death or captivity by an uncon- 
scious exercise of his characteristic promptitude. For 
after, upon one occasion, concealing the powder upon 
the bank and setting the boat adrift, he had set off 
with his little party for Harrod's fort, intending to 
return immediately with a large force, and convey 
it away. The next day they arrived at a cabin on a 
branch of the Licking, where he was informed that 
Colonel Todd was then in the vicinity with a number 
of men sufficient for his purpose. He remained here 
a few hours and then pushed on, not choosing to wait 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 531 



an indefinite time for assistance, which he could cer- 
tainly obtain by an additional tramp of fifty or sixty 
miles through the wilderness. Jones, unlucky for him- 
self, chose to consult his ease by remaining behind. 
Clark had departed but a few hours when Todd came 
up with ten or twelve men, and thinking himself strong 
enough for the service, determined to transport the 
powder into the settlements without delay, taking Jones 
and his two companions as guides, the other two hav- 
ing accompanied the Colonel [Clark]. They had ad- 
vanced but a few miles when they met a large party 
of Indians following swiftly upon Clark's trail, and a 
sharp fight at once commenced, in which the v/hites 
were quickly overpowered, Todd and Jones being 
killed, together with more than half their men and the 
rest made prisoners. Fortunately they proved true to 
their friends, and did not betray the secret of the con- 
cealed powder, which, in a few days was safely re- 
moved by Clark and distributed among the settlers, 
who were thus enabled to carry on the war with 
greater vigor than before." — Coleman, in Harper's 
Magazine, vol. XXII, p. 787. 

A somewhat different narrative is given in More- 
head's Address (pp. 56, 57), which says: 

''Hearing that the powder which the Council had 
furnished was still at Pittsburg, they [Clark and 
Jones] resolved to take that place in their route, and 
superintend in person the transmission of an article so 
necessary to the safety of the people of the stations. 
On their arrival at Pittsburg, they discovered that a 
body of Indians had collected there, ostensibly for the 
purpose of negotiation, but employed, as they believed, 
in acquiring information of the movements of the em- 



532 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

igrants, to enable them to intercept the passage of 
boats down the Ohio river, which was then. . . the 
principal thoroughfare of trade and transportation 
from the east to the west. It became important, there- 
fore, that Clark and his colleague should counteract by 
the celerity of their movements, these mischievous de- 
signs of the Indians. They procured and manned a 
boat — descended the river with all possible expedi- 
tion — landed at Limestone creek, the present site of 
the city of Maysville — carefully concealed the powder 
on its banks — and set out immediately to Harrods- 
burg for an escort to convey it to the stations. Thus 
far, they had met with no interruption ; but they were 
now about to penetrate the haunted wilds of Kentucky, 
and who could answer for their safety? Halting on 
their journey at a cabin that sheltered a settler whose 
name was Hinkston, they ascertained from a party of 
surveyors that Col. John Todd was in the vicinity with 
a small company under his command. On the recep- 
tion of this intelligence, Clark waited a short time for 
his arrival, but becoming hopeless of meeting him, he 
resumed his journey with two of his men, leaving the 
remainder of his little party with his colleague. Soon 
after his departure. Col. Todd arrived at Hinkston's, 
and confident of the sufficiency of his force, although 
he had but ten men along with him, he resolved upon 
an attempt to remove the powder from Limestone. 
The historian has not defined the position of Hinks- 
ton's cabin ; it was probably not remote from the 
stream which now bears his name in the county of 
Bourbon. Todd marched on until he approached the 
Blue Licks . . . and was attacked by a party of 
Indians who were in pursuit of Clark. A skirmish 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 533 

ensued which resulted in the defeat of Col. Todd, and 
the loss of several of his men. Jones, who had attached 
himself to the company, was among the number of the 
slain. Clark pushed on to Harrodsburg, from whence 
he sent a detachment to Limestone for the powder, 
which was conveyed safely to the station." This ac- 
count is substantially the same as had previously been 
published by Butler {History of Kentucky, pp. 40, 
42). 

In Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biogra- 
phy, Art.. "George Rogers Clark," it is said, by Dra- 
per that, "The 500 pounds of powder . . was con- 
veyed by land to the Monongahela and thence by water 
to the Three Islands a few miles above where Mays- 
ville now is, and there secreted while Clark and his 
escort went to Harrodsburg for horses and a guard for 
its conveyance to that station." This contains, by in- 
ference, an error — that Clark went on to Harrods- 
burg after the powder was secreted, not to complete 
his journey, but "for horses and a guard for its con- 
veyance to that station." The facts are that he and 
Jones went on to McClelland's station ; and, from that 
place, the first party, with Jones as a guide, set out for 
the powder ; it was the second party that went from 
Harrodsburg. 

One of the latest accounts concerning Clark's ob- 
taining the powder and returning with it to Kentucky 
is the following: 

"In the midsummer days — after the marriage of 
Samuel Henderson and Elizabeth Callerray by Squire 
Boone (the brother of Daniel, and a sort of amateur 
Baptist preacher) — George Rogers Clark returned 
from Virginia, bringing with him five hundred pounds 



534 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

of powder. This he had extorted from the Legislature 
for the defense of Kentucky ; for by this time the 
forests were full of Indians, seeking Yankee scalps, 
for which the British had offered rewards. 

'' 1 told the Virginia folks,' said Clark, 'that Ken- 
tucky would wait a reasonable length of time and then 
look elsewhere for assistance. I told them that a coun- 
try that was not worth defending was not worth hav- 
ing.' " — Emma M. Connelley's The Story of Ken- 
tucky, p. 57. 

The idea of Clark ''extorting" the powder from 
the Virginia Legislature which was not then in session 
seems to be an original one with that writer. 

It seems the powder was put up in twenty-five 
kegs, twenty pounds only in each keg: "A volunteer 
with Robert Patterson and twenty-eight other pioneers 
of Kentucky, he [Kenton] accompanied Major George 
Rogers Clark from Harrod's Station to the mouth of 
Limestone creek, for the purpose of escorting and 
transporting on foot twenty-five kegs of powder to the 
stations on Kentucky river." (Monnett's Valley of 
the Mississippi, vol. II, p. 63.) 



NOTE XII. 

. HAMILTON AUTHORIZED TO EMPLOY INDIANS. 

"In the month of June [May], 1777, Lieut. Gover- 
nor Cramahe' [it was Governor Carleton] wrote me a 
letter containing a copy of Lord George Germain's 
orders and instructions, by which I was authorized to 
appoint proper officers and interpreters and to send 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 535 

them with the Indians against the rebels with the 
strictest injunction to discourage and restrain them 
from their usual barbarities." — Hamilton to Haldi- 
mand, July 6, 1781. — Germain Mss. 

"In the month of June, [the month in which the 
letter was received], 1777, I w^as authorized to raise 
and employ the Indians, till which time I had exerted 
myself to restrain these people from taking an active 
part." — Hamilton to the Commissioners of His Maj- 
esty's Treasury, 1783, MS. Carleton's letter was re- 
ceived by Hamilton on the sixteenth day of June. 



NOTE XIII. 

MOORE AND LINN GO AS MILITIA TO THE ILLINOIS. 

Most writers who have mentioned the two young 
men sent to the Illinois by Clark give the name of 
Linn incorrectly as "Dunn" — following Butler, in his 
History of Kentucky, p. 46. The words of Clark, in 
his diary, as to sending these men — that they went as 
an ''express to the Illinois" — imply they were dis- 
patched by him as an officer of the militia and were to 
be paid by the State. They were both serving under 
Clark, and Linn was a lieutenant. 



NOTE XIV. 

MYTHICAL ACCOUNTS OF INDIAN SIEGES OF HARRODS- 
BURG AND LOGAN^S FORT, 1 777- 

It is <ioubtful whether in the whole list of traditions 
preserved in Kentucky history one can be found more 



636 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

completely mythical than that given at length in Har- 
per's Magazine, vol. XXII, pp. 787-789, concerning 
a supposed siege, in 1777, of Harrodsburg. After re- 
lating the exploits of young Ray and the part taken 
by Clark, the writer says : 

"What the number of the besiegers had been was 
now first seen; for, at the distance of four or five 
hundred yards from the fort, the whites came upon a 
camp, which, from every appearance, had been used 
the whole summer by at least five or six hundred 
warriors. Yet so closely had the settlers been con- 
fined during all that time that they had never sus- 
pected the existence of such an extensive establish- 
ment, though almost within sight of their own block- 
houses. 

"These incidents give a vivid picture of the state 
of the country at that period, and of the kind of ser- 
vice in which Clark was occupied during the year. . . 
Besides, this siege of Harrodsfort is remarkable in 
the early history of Kentucky as the first instance in 
which the impatient warriors of the forest had so far 
deviated from their usual habits as to sit down for 
any great length of time before a fortified post" (p. 

789). 

At no time during the year 1777 were there as 
many as fifty Indians in one party near Harrodsburg, 
so far as known; and the visit of a savage band was 
always of brief duration. They came suddenly and 
quickly disappeared. This whole story of a siege is 
an exaggerated outgrowth of the various skirmishes 
with the Indians during the year. (Compare, in this 
connection, Butler's Kentucky, pp. 42-45.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 537 



In Collins' Kentucky (ed. of 1877), p. 469. may be 
found a circumstantial account of the attack on Logan's 
fort May 30, 1777; but the date as there given (May 
20) is error. However, the principal mistake in the 
account is that which makes the Indians remain 
around the fort until the appearance of Col. Bowman. 



NOTE XV. 

EXTRACTS FROM CLARK's DIARY, 1777- 

"April 20. — Ben. Linn and Samuel Moore sent 
express to the Illinois. 

"April 24. — Forty or fifty Indians attacked Boones- 
borough, killed and scalped Daniel Goodman, wounded 
Capt. Boone, Capt. Todd, Mr. Hite, and Mr. Stoner. 
Indians, 'tis thought, sustained much damage. 

"April 29.— Indians attacked the fort [Harrods- 
burg] and killed Ensign McConnell. 

"May 6. — Indians discovered placing themselves 
near the fort [Harrodsburg]. A few shots exchanged 
— no harm done. 

"May 12. — John Cowan and Squire Boone arrived 
from the settlement [that is, from over the mountains] . 

"May 18.— McGary and Haggin sent express to 
Fort Pitt. 

"May 23. — John Todd and company set of¥ for the 
settlement [i. e., for the settled portions of Virginia 
over the mountains, — Todd's destination as burgess- 
elect being Williamsburg]. 

"May 23 [ ?] . — A large party of Indians attacked 
Boonesborough fort; kept a warm firing until eleven 



538 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

o'clock at night; began it next morning and kept a 
warm firing until midnight, attempting several times 
to burn the fort; three of our men were wounded — 
not mortally; the enemy suffered considerably. 

''May 26. — A party went out to hunt Indians ; one 
wounded Squire Boone and escaped. 

"May 30. — Indians attacked Logan's fort; killed 
and scalped William Hudson, wounded Burr Harrison 
and John Kennedy. 

"June 5. — Harrod and Elliot went to meet Colonel 
Bowman and company ; Glen and Laird arrived from 
Cumberland ; Daniel Lyons, who parted with them on 
Green river, we suppose was killed going into Logan's 
Fort. John Peters and Elisha Bathey we expect were 
killed coming home from Cumberland. 

"June 13. — Burr Harrison died of his wounds re- 
ceived the 30th of May. 

"June 22. — Ben Linn and Samuel Moore arrived 
from the Illinois. Barney Stagner, Sen., killed and 
beheaded half mile from the fort [Harrodsburg]. — A 
few guns fired at Boone's. 

"July 9. — Lieutenant Linn married — great merri- 
ment. 

"July II. — Harrod returned. 

"July 23.^- Express returned from Pittsburgh. 

"August I. — Col. Bowman arrived at Boonesbor- 
ough. 

"August 5. — Surrounded ten or twelve Indians 
near the fort [Harrodsburg] — killed three and wound- 
ed others ; the plunder was sold for upwards of £70. 

"August II. — John Higgins died of a lingering 
disorder. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 539 

''August 25. — Ambrose Grayson killed near Lo- 
gan's Fort, and [the savages] wounded two others ; 
Indians escaped. 

"September 2. — Col. Bowman and company ar- 
rived at this place [Harrodsburg] ; court held, etc. 

"September 8. — Twenty-seven men set out for the 
settlement [i. e., for the settlements east of the moun- 
tains]. 

"September 9. — Indians discovered [at Harrods- 
burg] — a shot exchanged — nothing done [that is, 
no one hurt] . 

"September 11. — Thirty-seven men went to Joseph 
Bowman's for corn; while shelling they were fired on; 
a skirmish ensued ; Indians drew off, leaving two dead 
on the spot and much blood : Eli Gerrard was killed 
on the spot and six others wounded. 

"September 12. — Daniel Bryan died of his wounds 
received yesterday. 

"September 17. — Express sent to the settlement 
[i. e., over the mountains] ; Mrs. Sanders died. 

"September 23. — Express arrived from Boone's 
and says that, on the 13th Captain Smith arrived there 
with 48 men — 150 more on the march for this [place 
— that is, for Harrodsburg] : also, that General Wash- 
ington had defeated Howe — joyful nezvs, if true. 

"September 26. — Brought in a load of corn — 
frost in the morning." 



NOTE XVI. 

CLARK PERMANENTLY MADE A HERO. 

"The space allotted to this brief sketch [of Clark] 
will not admit of a detailed narrative of the adventures 



540 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

of Major Clark after his return to Kentucky [from 
Williamsburg with his associate, Jones] Let it suffice 
to say, that he was universally looked up to by the 
settlers as one of the master spirits of the time, and 
[was] always foremost in the fierce conflicts and des- 
perate deeds of those wild and thrilling days." — Col- 
linses Kentucky (ed. of 1877), P- I35- The same 
writer says that Clark ''appears to have taken a pecu- 
liar pleasure" in that series of private and solitary ad- 
ventures [in 1777] in which he embarked after he 
returned from Virginia [late in December, 1776]." 

But these statements are too inflated. There is 
no cotemporary evidence that he was "universally 
looked up to by the settlers as one of the master 
spirits of the time ;" besides, it is certainly not true 
that he was "always foremost in the fierce conflicts 
and desperate deeds of those wild and thrilling days." 
The writer of these sentences had considerable knowl- 
edge of Clark's subsequent career, and he makes him a 
hero permanently. 



NOTE XVII. 

OF Clark's letter to george mason, nov. 19, 1779. 

"From this letter [of Clark] to George Mason, pre- 
sented by him to the Kentucky Historical Society, we 
learn of the almost paternal relation which Mason 
seemed to hold to the impetuous and gallant young 
soldier and of the warm regard and esteem that sub- 
sisted between the two friends. . . . He wrote 
from Louisville on the 19th of November, 1779, and 
prefaces his recital with the following respectful and 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 541 

affectionate apology for former negligence: 'My dear 
Sir : Continue to favor me with your valuable lessons. 
Continue your reprimands as though I were your son ; 
when suspicious, think not that promotion or conferred 
honor will occasion any unnecessary pride in me. You 
have infused too many of your valuable precepts in 
me [for me] to be guilty of the like, or to show any 
indifference to those that ought to be dear to me. 
It is with pleasure that I obey in transmitting to you 
a short sketch of my enterprise and proceedings in the 
Illinois, as near as I can recollect or gather from mem- 
orandums'." (Kate Mason Rowland's Life of George 
Mason,, Vol. I, pp. 310,. 311. See, also, Clark's Cam- 
paign in the Illinois, p. 21.) 



NOTE XVIIL 

CLARK AS A HORSE TRADER. 

Clark purchased a horse for £12, and traded with 
Isaac Shelby for another, getting iio "to boot." But 
his diary is silent as to the value of the Shelby equine. 
We may surmise, however from what subsequently 
took place that even at £2, (the sum the second horse 
really cost him) there was no great bargain in the 
trade; for he subsequently "swapped" again, giving 
this time (instead of receiving) "boot money," to the 
amount of £y, los. 

A late writer cannot brook the idea that Clark — 
his hero — could have been cheated ; so he declares 
"he evidently knew how to make a good bargain, and 
had the true backwoods passion for barter" (Roosevelt : 



542 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The Winning of the West, vol. II, p. 34). B.ut Shelby 
may have had the "true backwoods passion" as largely 
developed as Clark. 

In his diary, under date of September 29, Clark 
also speaks of having purchased eighteen pounds of 
powder and twenty-two of lead, from Silas Harland 
and James Harrod ; but this ammunition was probably 
for public use, not to sell or barter as his own property. 



NOTE XIX. 

SETTLEMENT OF CLARk's ACCOUNT AS MAJOR. 

In referring the matter of the payment of the Ken- 
tucky militia for their services to the Virginia House 
of Delegates, Governor Henry wrote as follows : 

"Williamsburg, November 11th, 1777. 
"Sir : Pay rolls for the militia of Kentucky have been 
laid before the auditors, in order to obtain warrants for pay- 
ment. The auditors have scrupled to allow this militia the 
pay fixed by law for those on actual duty, because they were 
obliged for their own personal safety and the security of 
their wives and children, to keep themselves in forts and re- 
main on the defensive against parties of Indians continually 
infesting that country, too numerous to permit the inhabitants 
to return to their plantations. The pay rolls are properly 
authenticated by the commanding officer [Major George 
Rogers Clark] under whose orders the men acted. In this 
state of the case, the advice of the Executive power is re- 
quested, and as I am in doubt on the subject, I am to pray, 
Sir, to take the sense of the Assembly on it. I am sensible 
that many instances have occurred similar to this, in which 
pay has been allowed, and I wish to put a stop to such a 
practice if it is wrong, and that no doubt of its rectitude 
may remain if it is proper. It may be observed, that 250 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 54B 

men have been ordered by government from the more interior 
counties to that place for its protection, the time of whose 
arrival there I cannot ascertain. 
"I have the honor to be, 

"Sir, Your Most humble Servant, 

"P. Henry. 
"The Honble George Wythe, Esq., 

"Speaker of the House of Delegates." 

Clark's entries in his diary for the seventh, eighth, 
ninth and tenth of November are somewhat vague. 
(See Note XX, following.) On the first day men- 
tioned, he says he called upon the auditors and laid 
before them the Kentucky accounts; the auditors re- 
fused to settle them without the consent of the Council. 
So far his entries are correct; but, on the eighth, his 
entry is, ''Got an order from the Council to settle 
them [the accounts]." This is probably an error in 
the date. Again, on the tenth, he writes : "Passed the 
accounts with the auditors, except my own, which 
they refuse to settle without consent, of the Council. 
This, too, is probably an error in the date. Both in- 
cidents mentioned took place after the eleventh, as 
shown by the letter of Governor Henry; however, it 
is possible that the mistake is in the letter and not in 
the diary, but this is not probable, as a careful study 
of the diary sufficiently discloses. 

It is evident that when his own accounts were 
settled, the Major resigned his commission, although 
there is no record evidence extant of the fact. There- 
upon he immediately replenished his stock of clothing, 
— purchasing "a piece of cloth for a jacket, price £4, 
15s; buttons, etc., 3s." (See Note XX, following.) 



544 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE XX. 

ADDITIONAL EXTRACTS FROM CLARK^S DIARY, 
OCT. 14 NOV. 22, 1777. 

The following- extracts include the entries made 
by Clark on his way to Williamsburg, after leaving the 
Wilderness Road: 

"Oct. 14. — Left Capt. Pawling; marched 15 miles. 

"Oct. 15. — Crossed Powell's river; marched 20 
miles ; camped on the south side of Powell's mountain. 

"Oct. 16. — Got to the 'rye cocks', — 9 miles. 

"Oct. 17. — [Got] to Blackamoore's, — 6 miles. 

"Oct. 18. — Parted with the company; lodged at 
More's fort, — 20 miles. 

"Oct. 19. — Lodged at Capt. Kincaid's, 22 miles. 

"Oct. 20. — Crossed Clinch mountain ; met Mr. 
Maulding; and heard from my friends; lodged at 
Col. Campbell's, — 24 miles. 

"Oct. 21.— Lodged at Jasper Kindser's ; got my 
horse shod on the way; breakfast and feed, is, 3d., — 
22 miles. 

"Oct. 22. — Cloudy morning, no rain; lodged at 
Sawyer's; expenses is. 3d., — 28 miles. 

"Oct. 23. — Falling in company with Capt. Camp- 
bell, an agreeable companion, we travelled 33 miles; 
lodged at Cook's ; poor fare ; expenses 6s. 6d. 

"Oct. 24.— Sold my gun to Mr. Love [for] £15; 
swapped horses with L Love; gave £y, los. boot; 
lodged at H. Neelie's, 25 miles. 

"Oct. 25. — Received a letter from Capt. Bowman, 
informing me that he had an order of court to carry 
salt to Kentucky ; . . . . lodged at Botetourt, — 
25 miles : 412 miles from Harrodsburg. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 545 

"Oct. 26. — Rain, staid at Lockhart's tavern. 

"Oct. 2y. — Rain; expenses £1. 4s. 

"Oct. 28. — Rain; started after breakfast; rained 
slowly all day; lodged at Bartlett's, expenses 4s., — 
25 miles. 

"Oct. 29. — Parted with my companion, Capt. 
Campbell ; lodged at J. McClung's ; 5s., — 28 miles. 

"Oct. 30. — Crossed the Blue Ridge; lodged at 
Black's at foot of the mountain ; 5s., — 23 miles. 

"Oct. 31. — Bought a pair of shoes in Charlotts- 
ville; lodged at . . . , — 35 miles — (15 miles 
from Charlottsville). 

"Saturday, Nov. i. — Got to my father's at about 
10 o'clock at night — all well — 55 miles: in the 
whole, 620 miles from Harrodsburg. 

"Nov. 2. — Staid at my father's. 

"Nov. 3. — Started for Williamsburg; lodged at 
Mr. Gwathmey's, — 40 miles. 

"Nov. 4. — Lodged at Warren's; is. 6d. — 29 miles. 

"Nov. 5. — Got to Williamsburg; lodged at Ander- 
son's; had a confirmation of Burgoyne's surrender. 

"Nov. 6. — Bought a ticket in the State Lottery, 
£3, number 10,693, ^^st class. 

"Nov. 7. — Went to the auditors ; laid before them 
the Kentucky accounts; they refused to settle them 
without the consent of the Council. 

"Nov. 8. — Got an arder from the Council to settle 
them. 

"Nov. 9. — Sunday, went to church. 

"Nov. 10. — Passed the accounts with the auditors, 
except my own, which they refused to settle without 
the consent of the Council. 

9,?i 



546 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 

''Nov. i8. — Settled with the auditors ; drew the 
money of the treasurer, £726; bought a piece of cloth 
for a jacket, price £4.. 15s.; buttons, etc., 3s. 

"Nov. 19. — Left Williamsburg after breakfast — 
expenses £g. i8s. ; lodged at Warren's. 

''Nov. 20. — Got to Mr. Gwathmey's, — expenses, 
13s. 

"Nov. 21. — Staid at Gwathmey's. 

"Nov. 22. — Came to my father's." 



NOTE XXI. 



CONCERNING CLARK S PURPOSE IN. LEAVING KENTUCKY 
IN 1777. 

Most historians who have written of Clark's re- 
solve, made in the summer of 1777, to return over 
the mountains from Kentucky, have concluded his 
object was to try to induce, if possible, the Virginia 
authorities to undertake the conquest of the Illinois. 
Now, in his Memoir, he does not state in so many 
words that the object of his leaving Kentucky for 
Williamsburg, in the fall of the year just mentioned, 
was to promote an expedition against that country, 
but such is the fair inference to be drawn from what 
lie says: 

"The commandants of the different towns of the 
Illinois and Wabash, I knew were busily engaged in 
exciting the Indians. Their reduction became my 
first object ---expecting probably that it might open 
a field for further action." Following this, he mentions 
the sending of the "two young hunters" to thos^ 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 547 

places (including, as he says, the Wabash towns as 
well as the IlHnois) "as spies, with proper instruc- 
tions for their conduct, to prevent suspicion." "Neither 
did they," he adds, "nor any one in Kentucky ever 
konw my design until it was ripe for execution. They 
returned to Harrodstown with all the information I 
could reasonably have expected." Then he recites 
briefly what the two "spies" reported; following it 
by declaring that when he left Kentucky he saw 
plainly that every eye was turned toward him as if 
expecting some stroke in their favor (see Dillon's 
Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 118, 119). Then he adds: 
"Some doubted my return, expecting I would join the 
army in Virginia. I left them wnth reluctance promis- 
ing them that I would certainly return to their as- 
sistance, which I had predetermined." 

In the foregoing there are several erroneous state- 
ments. Rocheblave in the Illinois and Abbott at Vin- 
cennes were not busily engaged in exciting the In- 
dians against the Americans. Before sending the two 
"spies" on their journey, Clark had not planned an 
undertaking for the reduction of the different towns 
of the Illinois and Wabash.; nor were his "spies" 
sent "to those places," but only to Kaskaskia. He 
had no design of conquest while in Kentucky to keep 
from the people there whfch, in the future, it was in- 
tended by him should, if possible, ripen into execu- 
tion. He had formed an opinion, simply, as already 
explained, that the conquest of the Illinois was feas- 
ible — that was all. When he left Kentucky he was 
not burning with an ambition to lead an expedition 
across the Ohio, either to the Illinois towns or to 
Vincennes upon the Wabash. On the contrary, he 



548 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

declared, as already shown, he would accept no com- 
mand whatever unless he should find a very great call 
for troops and his country in danger. 

Now, even before the Memoir had been used by 
any historian, Marshall, one of the earliest Kentucky 
writers, said: "The possibility of making conquests 
so important to the future security of the western 
boundary of the state derived considerable proba- 
bility and vivacity from the ardent and confident rep- 
resentations of the Mr. Clark, whose name has been 
previously mentioned as being in Kentucky the pre- 
ceding year [1776]. While there it appeared that 
he, affected by the scene of hostility in which he found 
himself, and hence induced to reflect on its causes 
and the means of removing the effects, had instituted 
inquiries into the situation and condition of the In- 
dians and the posts most contiguous to Kentucky — 
about which he had received extensive information, 
and which he, prompted by an ardent passion for 
military fame, propagated with the zeal of one who 
had a presentiment of being employed. It was cer- 
tainly his desire. And no less certain that his infor- 
mation and representations contributed much to excite 
and confirm the public sentiment in favor of an enter- 
prise which was probably suggested by him, but 
thought both hazardous afid eventful by those who 
could alone authorize its execution. [History of Ken- 
tucky, vol. 71, p. 66]." But all this was the out- 
growth of the knowledge possessed by that writer as 
to the outcome of Clark's undertaking, 

A later Kentucky historian declares : "So strongly 
was he [Clark] impressed with the importance of 
this movement, that in the summer of 'yy, he had 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 549 

dispatched two spies of the names of Moore and Dunn 
[Linn], to reconoitre the situation of these remote 
parts of the enemy. These emissaries reported great 
activity on part of the mihtia, as well as the most 
extended encouragement to the Indians in their bar- 
barous depredations upon the Kentucky frontier ; yet, 
notwithstanding the enemy had essayed every art of 
misrepresentation to prejudice the French inhabitants 
against the Virginians, by telling them that these 
frontier people were more shocking barbarians than 
the savages themselves, still the spies reported strong 
traces of affection for the Americans, among some of 
the inhabitants. Not that the spies, or anybody else, 
were acquainted with the contemplated expedition till 
it was ripe to be laid before the governor and coun- 
cil of Virginia. To this body he determined to submit 
the matter; when, on the ist of October, 1777, he 
left Kentucky." . . . (Butler: History of Ken- 
tucky, p. 46.) 

But, when this was written its author had not seen 
Clark's letter to Mason, which so conclusively shows 
that his resolution to "to submit the matter," was 
not fixed upon until sometime after his arrival in Wil- 
liamsburg. And it may here be well to notice, also, 
that ''these emissaries" did not report "extended en- 
couragement to the Indians in their barbarous depre- 
dations upon the Kentucky frontier." It will be seen 
that while Butler essays to follow Clark in his Memoir, 
he at the same time adds unwarrantable statements. 

Some years after the appearance of the foregoing, 
the following statement was published by another Ken- 
tucky writer who gives as a prelude the convictions 
of Clark as to the purposes of the British commanders 



550 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

at their posts beyond the Ohio ; of their instigating 
the savages against Kentucky ; and of the necessity 
of attacking their stronghold : ''With these convictions 
deeply impressed upon his [Clark's] mind, he deter- 
mined to recommend to the Governor and Council of 
Virginia, an immediate expedition into Illinois. Not 
sufficiently assured of a favorable reception of his 
views, in his absence from the seat of government, 
he left Kentucky on the first of October, 1777, and 
repaired in person to Williamsburgh, to enforce by 
argument, and if need be by entreaty, the policy of 
his scheme." — Morehead's Address, pp. 60, 61. That 
writer, too, had not, it is evident, seen Clark's letter 
to Mason. (See Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
compare, in particular, in this connection, pp. 21, 22). 
In Coleman's article in Harper's Magazine, vol. 
XXII, p. 789, it is stated that "he [Clark], on his 
own account, sent two spies to Kaskaskia and Vin- 
cennes whose reports were at once favorable and 
alarming. Favorable, because he learned that a neg- 
ligent guard was kept over the fortifications, and 
that the sentiment of the French inhabitants were 
secretly not at all hostile to the American cause. 
Alarming, because he was informed that preparations 
were already on foot for a combined invasion of Ken- 
tucky by the British and Indians, to be commenced 
the next summer. This was to be antlcpated, and 
Clarke [sic.'\ resolved to hasten once more to Vir- 
ginia and lay his plans before the Governor and Leg- 
islature. For this purpose he set forth on his third 
journey through the forest, which lay unbroken by a 
single habitation between Licking River and the fron- 
tiers of Virginia. The people saw him depart with 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 551 

regret and fear. Knowing his great qualities so well 
themselves, they dreaded lest such inducements might 
be held out as would tempt him to remain in the 
East, or that the threatened storm might burst upon 
them in his absence." 

In reply to the last, it may be said (i) that Clark 
did not send his two "spies" to Vincennes at all; (2) 
that he did not learn that the French inhabitants were, 
secretly, not at all hostile to the American cause; (3) 
that he was not informed that preparations were 
already on foot for a combined invasion of Kentucky 
by the British and Indians, to be commenced the next 
summer; (4) that Clark did not resolve to hasten 
once more to Virginia and lay his plans before the 
Governor and Legislature; and (5) that he did not 
for that purpose set forth on his third journey through 
the forest for Williamsburg. That some of the set- 
tlers saw him depart "with regret" is probably true ; 
but none saw him go with "fear." None of them 
"dreaded lest such inducements might be held out as 
would tempt him to remain in the East," for the 
reason that it must have been known he did not in- 
tend to return. 

Now, many other waiters (those who have read 
but not sufficiently considered Clark's words to Ma- 
son) have been entrapped by his Memoir. Of these, 
no one expresses himself with more directness than 
one of the latest to record the doings of Clark in 
1777, already cited in this connection: 

"On the first of October, having matured his 
plans for the Illinois campaign, he [Clark] left for 
Virginia to see if he could get the government to 
help him put them into execution." (Roosevelt — The 



552 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Winning of the West, Vol. II, p. 17.) Again: "Clark- 
knew he could get from among his fellow-settlers [in 
Kentucky] some men peculiarly suited for his pur- 
pose [of attacking the Illinois] ; but he also realized 
that he would have to bring the body of his force 
from Virginia. Accordingly, he decided to lay the 
case before Patrick Henry, then Governor of the State 
of which Kentucky was then only a frontier county." 
(Roosevelt, in the Vol. last cited, p. 34.) 

Another writer, who has evidently noticed the var- 
iance between Clark's declaration in his letter to Mason 
and that given in his Memoir, cautiously says : 

''With this information [that obtained from the 
two men from Kaskaskia, sent from Kentucky] Clark 
set out for Williamsburg in the fall of 1777, having 
for his main object the settlement of his accounts in 
reference to the Kentucky militia, of Avhich he was 
the commander. Some of the Kentuckians looked to 
him for an enterprise for their relief, others expected 
him to join the army in Virginia, and never to return 
to them. He left the country reluctantly, and with 
promise of return to their assistance." (Henry's 
Patrick Henry, vol. I, p. 582. Compare, in this con- 
nection, Appleton's Encyclopedia of American Biog- 
raphy, art. "George Rogers Clark," by Draper.) 

A Kentucky author we have frequently mentioned, 
declares that hitherto [that is, previous to Clark's 
arrival at Williamsburg, in November, 1777], the war 
in Kentucky had been carried on by the perseverance 
and the gallantry of the backwoodsmen themselves, 
with little assistance from the power of Virginia, ex- 
cepting that which was procured by the devotion of 
Messrs. Clark and Jones. The tremendous struggle 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 553 

of the Revolution, involving everything dear to a 
free and generous people, demanded all the energies 
of the Commonwealth. The State had not disposable 
means to act on so remote a frontier." (Butler: His- 
tory of Kentucky, p. 45.) 

But before Clark started on his journey from the 
Kentucky settlements. Captain Smith, as we have seen, 
arrived at Boonesborough with forty-eight Virginia 
militia to assist the settlers in repelling savage ag- 
gressions and Captain Montgomery reached Logan's 
fort with thirty-eight; besides these, he soon met 
fifty more men under Captain Watkins, on their way 
to Boonesborough; so that, it is clear, Virginia was 
then protecting, with at least a respectable force, "her 
remote frontier;" and that then the war was not 
carried on by the backwoodsmen alone. It is the 
testimony of Governor Henry, as hereafter seen, that 
250 men had been ordered by Virginia from more 
interior counties of the State, to the county of Ken- 
tucky for the protection of the settlements there. 

"The government of Virginia [did not] appear," 
continues the writer just quoted," to have been dis- 
tinctly aware of the important diversion of the Indian 
force which might be effected by supporting the exer- 
tions of Kentucky. As little did she perceive the rich 
acquisitions offered to her military ambition in the 
British posts in the Western country. Yet every In- 
dian engaged on the frontier of Kentucky was saved 
to the nearer frontier of the parent state. These com- 
bined views acquired greater weight with the progress 
of the Revolution, and the increasing population of 
Kentucky ; they were particularly aided by the ardent 
and impressive representations of Major Clark. He 



554 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

had witnessed the rise and growth of this section of 
the country from its earhest buddings ; he had pene- 
trated its condition and its relations with the in- 
stinctive genius which stamped him the most con- 
summate of the western commanders. He had seen 
at a glance that the sources of the Indian devasta- 
tions were to be found in the British possessions of 
Detroit, St. Vincents [Vincennes] and Kaskaskia. The 
heart-rending ravages spread by the barbarians of the 
western hemisphere . . . were stimulated by the 
ammunition, anns and clothing supplied at these mili- 
tary stations. If they could be taken, the streams 
of hostility which had overflown Kentucky with 
horrors would be dried up and a counter influence 
established over the savages."* 

But the assertions here made are by far too sweep- 
ing in their character. Virginia fully appreciated 
what would be "the rich acquisitions offered to her 
military ambition," by the capture of the British posts 
in the Western country. Vincennes and particularly 
Kaskaskia had done little to encourage aggressions of 
the Indians against Kentucky; and even Clark him- 
self believed that more mischief was concocted in these 
places than there really was. The fact was the chief 
source of trouble was Detroit, as the General Govern- 
ment and the Virginia authorities well knew, and as 
was known by Clark himself ; nevertheless, could Kas- 
kaskia be taken, much good, it was evident, would be 
accomplished. But an expedition to reduce the Illi- 
nois was not to be recommended simply for the bet- 
ter protection of the Kentucky settlements. Clark's 
idea was that it would redound, if successful, to the 

* Ibid. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 555 

greater security of the whole Western frontier, es- 
pecially as it might lead to the conquest of Vincennes 
and Detroit. 

A recent writer (E. A. Bryan, in Magazine of 
American History, vol. XXI, p. 399) not only sees 
in the sending of the two spies a purpose to reduce 
Vincennes as well as the Illinois villages, on part of 
ClarJv, but dispatches the latter to Virginia to lay the 
matter before the Virginia governor. These are his 
words : 

"The name of George Rogers Clark, misrepre- 
sented, belittled, maligned though it has been, is as 
fair a name as adorns the roll of our Revolutionary 
heroes. He was a man of strong will, of lofty imagi- 
nation, of unconquerable courage, of great daring com- 
bined with wonderful shrewdness, a lover of freedom 
and of his native land. A Virginian by birth, soon 
after attaining his majority he had cast his fortunes 
with the handful of settlers in Kentucky. It was here 
that the Indian massacres, which had been incited 
by British gold, led him to the conviction that Post 
Vincennes must be conquered, not only for the sake of 
controlling the Indians and protecting the frontier, 
but also for the sake of wresting this vast and fertile 
territory from England. Having dispatched two spies 
to learn the temper of the French and Indian popu- 
lation of the posts, and to ascertain the strength of 
the forts and garrisons, he goes to Virginia, lays the 
matter before Governor Patrick Henry, who, as does 
also Jefferson, sees the far-reaching importance of the 
scheme." 

The whole matter may be surnmed up in this way : 
Clark being fully advised of the "alarming situation" 



556 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

• — that ''the Americans were as sorely pressed by the 
EngHsh from the seaside as they were by the Indians 
from the western wilderness," as a recent writer hap- 
pily expresses it — he was fully imbued with the 
idea that a decisive movement across the Ohio would 
be a most opportune undertaking; he would, there- 
fore, encourage it. 

In after years, with a treacherous memory to guide 
him, his ''design," he says, was made known because 
Burgoyne's army had been captured and things seemed 
to wear a pleasing aspect [see his Memoir — Dillon's 
Indiana (Ed. of 1859), p. 119]. Many writers have 
copied this error. 

"The capture of Burgoyne, however, put a dif- 
ferent aspect upon affairs, and induced him [Clark] 
to suggest to a few leading men — George Wythe, 
George Mason, and Thomas Jefferson — the plan of 
attacking the British posts in the Illinois country." 
(Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. I, p. 583.) As a mat- 
ter of fact, however, it w^as according to Clark in his 
letter to Mason, not Burgoyne's surrender that fixed 
his (Clark's) resolution to promote the expedition, 
but, as before mentioned, the desperation of the British 
on the seaboard and of their savage allies in the West. 

In his Memoir he states : "On the tenth of De- 
cember I communicated my design to Governor 
Henry;" yet, as a matter of fact, his suggestion was 
not made to the latter, but, as may be premised, "to 
a few gentlemen," who laid the subject before the 
Governor. 

That any one while denouncing Clark's Memoir 
should adopt, and even add to its errors in writing 
of the expedition planned against the Illinois, is, to 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 557 

say the least, very strange. But this is what occurs 
in the following extract : 

"After a week's rest [at his father's house], he 
[Clark] went back to the capital [Williamsburg], 
laid his plans before Patrick Henry, and urged their 
adoption with fiery enthusiasm. ( Roosevelt — The 
Wintitng of the West, vol. II, p. 36.) And that author 
previously declares that he (Clark) had ''decided" 
before leaving Kentucky "to lay the case before Pat- 
rick Henry" (same vol., p. 34), and that "Clark 
knew he could get from among his fellovz-settlers 
[in Kentucky], some men peculiarly suited for his 
purpose, but he also realized that he would have to 
bring the body of his force from Virginia." 



NOTE XXII. 



ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA AUTHOR- 
IZING AN EXPEDITION AGAINST WESTERN ENEMIES 

(under which Clark organized his Undertaking 
against Kaskaskia), passed at the October ses- 
sion, 1777. (See Hening's Virginia Statutes at 
Large, vol. IX, pp. 374, 375). 

An act for better securing the commonwealth, and for 
the farther protection and defence thereof. 

For more effectually securing the commonwealth 
against the designs and attempts of certain evil- 
minded persons, now or lately in the counties here- 
inafter mentioned, who, lost to all sentiments of 
virtue, honor or regard for their country, have been 
induced to aid the enemy: 



558 - HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That 
Samuel Washington, Gabriel lones, and Joseph Reed, 
esquires, commissioners appointed by the United States 
of America in Congress assembled to repair to Fort 
Pitt in order to investigate the rise, progress, and ex- 
tent of the disaffection in that quarter, or such other 
persons as shall be appointed in their room and shall 
undertake to execute the office, be authorized and em- 
powered and they are hereby authorized and em- 
powered, at any time within six months after the 
passing of this act, to apprehend such inhabitants 
of the counties of Ohio, Monongalia and Yohogania 
as shall appear to the said commissioners to have been 
concerned in any conspiracy or plot against the said 
states, or any or either of them, and to deliver the 
offenders over to the proper civil officer to be prose- 
cuted according to law. And to provide for the farther 
protection and defence of the frontiers. Be it farther 
enacted. That the governor, with the advice of the 
privy council, may order such part of the militia as 
may be most convenient, and as they shall judge 
necessary, consistently with the safety of the com- 
monwealth, to act in conjunction with any troops on 
any expedition which may be undertaken by desire 
of the United States of America, in congress assem- 
bled, against any of our western enemies ; and also 
that the governor, with advice of the privy council, 
at any time within nine months after the passing of 
this act, may empower a number of volunteers, not 
exceeding six hundred, to march against and attack 
any of our social enemies, and may appoint the proper 
officers and give the necessary orders for the expedi- 
tion. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 559 
NOTE XXIII. 

GOV. henry's order to "secure" linn and MOORE. 

The whole clause, in which "the two men from 
Kaskaskia" are mentioned by Governor Henry in his 
Private Instructions to Clark, reads as follows : "For 
the transportation of the troops, prisoners, etc., down 
the Ohio, you are to apply to the commanding officer 
at Fort Pitt for boats; and during the whole trans- 
action you are to take especial care to keep the true 
destination of your force secret. Its success depends 
upon this. Orders are therefore given to Captain 
Smith to secure the two men from Kaskaskia. Sim- 
ilar conduct will be proper in similar cases." Who 
Captain Smith was, and why he was selected for that 
particular service will soon appear. 

That, "to secure the two men from Kaskaskia," 
implied that they were to be arrested, there can be 
no doubt; but this does not necessarily convey the 
idea that Clark had actually communicated to Linn 
and Moore any particular reason for sending them 
to the Illinois and that he had informed Governor 
Henry what that reason was. But the latter could not 
fail to see that both these men might, upon learning 
that Clark was on his way down the Ohio with a 
considerable force, conclude he was going on an ex- 
pedition to the country they had visited as "spies;" 
and for fear their suspicions might be mentioned in 
the Kentucky settlements, it was thought best by thq 
Virginia goyernor, to have them "secured," 



560 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE XXIV. 

ERRORS IN THE PRIVATE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN BY GOV. 
HENRY TO CLARK^ AS FOUND IN "cLARK's CAM- 
PAIGN IN THE ILLINOIS," pp. 96, 97. 

In second paragraph, for ''expectation" read "ex- 
pedition;" in third paragraph, for ''&c," read "&;" 
in fourth paragraph, for "way," read "ways ;" in 
fifth paragraph, for "of Ohio," read "of the Ohio." 

The Private Instructions, as printed in Monnette's 
History of the Mississippi Valley, vol. II, p. 41 5n, are 
with less errors than are to be found in the document 
given in the work above mentioned. In Henry's Pat- 
rick Henry, they are printed with literal exactness as 
to capitals, etc., which Butler does not attempt. 



NOTE XXV. 

CONCERNING THE DISCRETIONARY POWER GIVEN CLARK. 

The concluding words of the following from Ban- 
croft's History of the United States (ed. of 1885) 
vol. V, p. 310., indicating that Clark was given a dis- 
cretionary power to attack "the British dominion 
on . . . the Wabash," is misleading, and is 
doubtless the result of that historian following Clark's 
Memoir (the italicising is mine) : 

"In the latter part of 1777 Clark took leave of 
the woodsmen of Kentucky and departed for the East. 
To a few at Williamsburg, of whom no one showed 
more persistent zeal than George Mason and Thomas 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 561 

Jefferson, he proposed a secret expeditiori to the 
lUinois. Patrick Henry, the governor, made the plan 
his own, and, at his instance, the house of delegates, 
by a vote of which 'few knew the intent,' empowered 
him to aid 'any expedition against their western 
enemy.' On the second of January, 1778, Clark re- 
ceived from the governor and council a supply of 
money, liberty to levy troops in any county of Vir- 
ginia, and written and verbal instructions clothing 
him with large discretionary authority to attack the 
British dominion on the Illinois and the Wabash/' 



NOTE XXVL 



GEORGE WYTHE, GEORGE MASON AND THOMAS JEFFER- 
SON's PLEDGE TO CLARK ON THE 3D OF JANUARY^ 

1778. 

The letter written by George Wythe, George 
Mason, and Thomas Jefferson (the first mentioned, 
speaker, and the others, members, of the House of 
Delegates), pledging themselves in exerting their in- 
fluence to obtain from the legislature of Virginia a 
bounty of three hundred acres of land for each re- 
cruit in the expedition, in the event of its success, 
has been lost. The words of Clark, in his Memoir 
(Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 119, 120), are 
— "as an encouragement to those who would engage 
in said service [meaning the service against the Illi- 
nois towns] an instrument of writing was signed, 
wherein those gentlemen promised to use their in- 
fluence to procure from the assembly three hundred 

36 



562 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

acres of land for each in case of success." But, in 
this writing, the real object of the expedition could 
not have been mentioned, else the secret would have 
been disclosed as to what service was expected of those 
who enlisted. 

Roosevelt ( The Winning of the West, vol II, 
p. 37) says the three gentlemen "agreed in writing 
to do their best to induce the Virginia Legislature to 
grant to each of the adventurers three hundred acres 
of the conquered land, if they were successful." (The 
italicising is mine). To have made such an explana- 
tion would have disclosed the secret as to the des- 
tination of the expediton. What Butler says (and he 
had the letter in his possession doubtless when he 
wrote) is this: 'The result of these deliberations 
[with Clark as to the plan of attacking the Illinois] 
was, a full approbation of the scheme, and in order 
to encourage the men, those patriotic gentlemen 
[George Wythe, George ]\Iason and Thomas Jeffer- 
son], like worthy sons of Old Virginia, pledged them- 
selves by an instrument of writing in case of success, 
to exert their influence to obtain from the Legislature 
a bounty of three hundred acres of land for every 
person in the expedition [Historv of Kentuckv, p. 

47-]" 

In a recent work is to be found the following: 
"It was during this winter of 1777-8 that Col. George 
Rogers Clark visited Williamsburg, and in interviews 
with Governor Henry and the leading men of the 
Assembly, the famous Illinois campaign was projected. 
George Mason was an intimate and revered friend 
of the gallant young soldier, and he was one of the 
leaders with whom Henry conferred on the subject 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 563 

of Clark's plans. A letter was written by George 
Wythe, George Mason and Thomas Jefferson, on the 
3d of January, 1778, in which these gentlemen pledged 
themselves, in case of the success of the expedition, 
'to exert their influence to obtain from the legisla- 
ture a bounty of three hundred acres of land for every 
person in the expedition [Butler's History of Ken- 
tucky,' p. 47 (and foot-note)]. The papers of G. R. 
Clark were in 1834, in possession of his brother, 
General William Clark, and they were used by Mann 
Butler in his history of Kentucky. Copies of some 
of these papers were given by Butler to the Hon. 
Lyman C. Draper of Wisconsin, for his contemplated 
biography of George Rogers Clark. The letter signed 
by Wythe, Mason, and Jefferson was, however, never 
seen by Mr. Draper." (Kate Mason Rowland's Life 
of George Mason, vol I, p. 290.) 



NOTE xxvn. 

AS TO WILLIAM HARROD AND WILLIAM B. SMITH. 

Although a former resident of the Redstone ccu::- 
try, William Harrod had been for some time locale ! 
in Kentucky, but had now, for some reason unkno^v:^ 
returned to the Monongahela region. (As to his 
residence in Kentucky, see Hall's Romance of Western 
History, p. 384. Compare, also : Monnette's History 
of the Mississippi Valley, vol. I, p. 398,) 

Bancroft [Llistory of the United States (ed. of 
1885), vol. V, p. 310] says: 'Tt was probably there 
[at Redstone] that he [Clark] met with Captain Wil- 



564 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Ham Harrod and his company;" and he (Bancroft) 
gives, as authority for this "probabihty," a MS. mem- 
orandum of L. C. Draper. But it is clear, if Captain 
Harrod had there a company, it was the result of his 
recruiting- as mentioned by Clark. In any event, there- 
fore, to say that the latter probably met zvith Captain 
Harrod and his company at Redstone, conveys an 
erroneous impression. 

Clark, in his Memoir, erroneously speaks of Wil- 
liam B. Smith as "Major." He was only a cap- 
tain. He was the one who was ordered by Gover- 
nor Henry ''to secure the two men from Kaskaskia," 
as he was expected to reach Kentucky in advance 
of Clark. Smith could not have been told why he 
was to secure these men. If he had been, he would 
have been put in possession of the secret as to Clark's 
true destination. It is certain, however, that Clark's 
officers as well as his enlisted men knew nothing of 
the real object of the expedition until some time after. 



NOTE XXVIII. 

>,IANN BUTLER ON CLARK's RECRUITING TROUBLES. 

[Ante Chap. V, p. — .] 

Butler (History of Kentucky, p 48) says: "At 
Fort Pitt [it was at Redstone], he [Clark] met with 
some difficulties arising from the disputed dominion, 
which then agitated the friends of Pennsylvania and 
Virginia; many thought the detachment of troops to 
Kentucky was a wanton dispersion and division of 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 565 

strength. The secrecy of his real destination and 
the ostensible one of Kentucky, led many to declare 
it better to remove the Kentuckians than weaken the 
country by undertaking their defence. Little did these 
objectors know the innate vigor, the indomitable 
energy of the backwoodsmen of Kentucky and of 
the West, when they talked of removing them like so 
many chatties." This is certainly pardonable in But- 
ler, being himself a Kentuckian ; but only a year 
before, the Governor of Virginia, it will be remem- 
bered, said to an officer of militia he was about to 
send out there, — "in case it shall be judged im- 
possible to hold the country . . . they [the 
militia] are to escort all the people, with their effects 
to the nearest place of safety." (Instruction of Gov. 
Henry to the Lieutenant of Montgomery County, 
March lo, 1777.) 



NOTE XXIX. 



THE FALLS OF THE OHIO TO BE CLARK's FINAL REN- 
DEZVOUS. WHEN THE EMBARKATION TOOK PLACE 

FROM REDSTONE. WHO PROPERLY TO SHARE WITH 

CLARK THE CREDIT OF PLANNING THE EXPEDI- 
TION. 

Clark, in his letter to Mason {Clark's Campaign in 
the Illinois, p 25), says he "set sail for the Falls [of 
the Ohio]" and that he had previously received let- 
ters from Captain Smith, informing him that he would 
meet him at that place. This makes it certain that the 
final rendezvous had been fixed upon, and that it was 
the Falls. 



566 HISTORY*OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The Colonel, it will be noticed, had been in Red- 
stone, active in collecting men — some of whom were 
Pennsylvanians, but most of them Virginians — for 
over two and a half months. In his Memoir, he says it 
was late in May before he could leave the Redstone 
settlement ; but this is certainly error. The date — 
twelfth of May — is sufficiently corroborated by cir- 
cumstances afterward transpiring, which are spoken of 
by the Colonel in his letter just cited. 

"Early in the ensuing spring, at the age of twenty- 
six, he [Clark] embarked, sole commander of an 
enterprise wholly his own in conception and plan, 
which had been for three years the daring object 
of his ambition." {Harper's Magazine, vol. XXII, 
pp. 789, 790.) But the enterprise, while it was his 
(Clark's) own conception, was by no means, as already 
shown, w^holly his own plan. Much of the credit of 
arranging the details of the expedition is due Gov. 
Henry and his Council. To say that the undertak- 
ing had been for three years the daring object of 
Clark's ambition, is stating for him what he, at the 
time, did not claim. 



NOTE XXX. 

Clark's force upon leaving Redstone. 

As Captains Bowman and Helm brought to the 
Colonel only about thirty-five men, he must have ob- 
tained at Redstone about one hundred and fifteen. 
That the whole force was formed into three com- 
panies, see Butler's Kentucky, p. 48, And the same is 
to be inferred from Hamilton to Haldimand [Sept. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 567 

5], 1778 — Haldimand MSS., where a deserter gives 
the information of the arrival in Kentucky of that 
number, but erroneously states (designedly it may 
be) that there were seventy men in each company. 

Singularly erroneous is Monnette's account {His- 
tory of the Valley of the Mississippi, vol. I, p. 416) 
as to Clark's force just before leaving Redstone: 

"Selecting from his whole force four companies 
of picked men, under well-known captains, he [Clark] 
prepared to descend the [Ohio] river upon the hazar- 
dous enterprise. The companies were commanded by 
Captains Montgomery, Bowman, Helm and Harrod." 
But the Colonel was only too glad to get almost any" 
kind of recruits, without stopping to "pick" them; 
and, besides. Captain Montgomery was then in Ken- 
tucky. 

"Proceeding to Pittsburg, on Feb. 4, he [Clark] 
succeeded, after extraordinary exertions, in raising 
three companies." — Moser's Illinois, vol. I, p. 147. 
The inference from this is that Clark left Williams- 
burg on February 4th; that he proceeded thence to 
Pittsburgh; and that, at the place last mentioned, he 
succeeded in raising three companies. But, as already 
shown, all this is error, but Moses follows, substan- 
tially, Butler's Kentucky, p. 48. 



NOTE XXXI. 

A NUMBER OF FAMILIES FOLLOW CLARK. 

In his Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 
121 — Clark says there went with him "a considerable 



568 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

number of families and private adventurers." This 
is follow^ed by Butler {History of Kentucky, p. 50). 

A remark afterwards made by Clark makes it prob- 
able that there were about twenty of these families, 
as stated in the text. See, also, Col. R. T. Dur- 
rett, in The Southern Bivouac, for January, 1884. 

Roosevelt {The Winning of the West, vol. II, p. 
39) erroneously remarks that ''the presence of these 
families shows that even this [Clark's] expedition 
had the usual peculiar western character of being 
undertaken half for conquest, half for settlement." 
Surely, enough has already been disclosed to show 
the fallacy of this. It was an undertaking wholly for 
conquest. The families collected at Redstone did not 
belong to the expedition ; and their desire to go along 
with the Colonel down the Ohio, was for the protec- 
tion which his force would give them from attacks 
by the savages. 



NOTE XXXII. 

CLARK AND HIS RECRUITS AT PITTSBURGH AND 
WHEELING. 

It is evident that Colonel Clark, upon reaching 
Fort Pitt, must have informed General Hand of the 
true object of his expedition. Bancroft [History of 
the United States (ed. of 1885), vol. V, p. 310] says: 
"At Redstone — old-fort, with the cordial aid of Hand, 
its commander, he [Clark] collected boats, light ar- 
tillery, and ammunition." General Hand extended 
no aid to Clark at Redstone; and the latter collected 
no light artillery here or elsewhere, as he took none 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 569 

with him."^ What help he received from the com- 
mander of the Western Department was at Fort Pitt 
and WheeUng. 

"He [Clark] tried to raise recruits at Fort Pitt 
with but little success ; but while here [there] he re- 
ceived information that his subordinate officers were 
progressing more rapidly." (Dunn's Indiana, p. 133.) 
It is evident that "Redstone" ought to have been sub- 
stituted for "Fort Pitt" by Mr. Dunn. And it was 
only one subordinate — Captain Smith — who sent 
news, particularly, of a more rapid progress; and 
even what he sent was not an accomplished fact ; — 
the Captain intended to do much. 

"Under authority from the State of Virginia, and 
with some aid from that state in money and sup- 
plies, Clark enlisted two hundred men for three months, 
with whom he embarked at Pittsburg." [The History 
of the United States of America. By Richard Hil- 
dreth (First Series), vol. Ill, p. 260.] There is in 
this statement not only an error as to the number 
of men who embarked with Clark, but also as to the 
place of embarkation, when starting upon his expedi- 
tion. 

We quote agam from Bancroft: "These ["Cap- 
tain Leonard Helm of Farquier {sic), and Captain 
Joseph Bowman of Frederic {sic.) each with less 
than half a company'] and the adventurers of his 
[Clark's] own enlistment, together only one hundred 
and fifty men, but all of a hardy race, self-relying, 
and trusting in one another, he [Clark] was now to 
lead near a thousand miles from their former homes 

* This error of Bancroft has been frequently followed. 
As an instance, see History of the Girtys, p. 72. 



570 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

against a people who exceeded them in number and 
were aided by merciless tribes of savage allies." [His- 
tory of the United States (ed. of 1885), vol. V, p. 
310.] That they were in reality marching against a 
people exceeding them in number is true; but that 
the latter "were aided by merciless tribes of, sav- 
age allies" is not strictly correct, as will hereafter 
be shown. Why Bancroft speaks of the former homes 
of Clark's men, it is impossible to understand. 

As General Hand furnished the Colonel ''with 
every necessary" he wanted, it must have included the 
prime one — powder. The ''stores" taken in at Wheel- 
ing included, probably, a portion of what were fur- 
nished him by the Fort Pitt commandant, as that 
post was supplied by the latter. The "Linn pow- 
der," mentioned by Governor Henry in his private 
instructions to Clark, was secreted either at Wheel- 
ing or near there, but was not disturbed by the 
Colonel. One writer — Horace Edwin Hay den (Mag- 
azine of American History, vol. XXH, p. 415) — 
erroneously concludes that Clark supplied himself with 
it. 



NOTE XXXHL 

CAPTURE OF DANIEL BOONE AND PARTY AT THE BLUE 
LICKS. 

"On the first day of January, 1778, I went," says 
Boone, "with a party of thirty men to the Blue Licks, 
on Licking river, to make salt for the different gar- 
risons in the country. On the seventh day of Feb- 
ruary, as I was hunting to procure meat for the com- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 571 

pany, I met with a party of one hundred and two 
Indians and two Frenchmen, on their march against 
Boonesborough, that place being particularly the ob- 
ject of the enemy. They pursued and took me, and 
brought me on the eighth day to the Licks, where 
twenty-seven of my party were, three of them hav- 
ing previously returned home with salt. I, knowing 
it was impossible for them to escape, capitulated with 
the enemy; and, at a distance, in their view, gave 
notice to my men of their situation, with orders not 
to resist, but surrender themselves captives." [Boone's 
Narrative (by Filson), added to The Discovery, Set- 
tlement, and Present State of Kentucky, in Imlay's 
Topographical Description of the Western Territory 
of North America (London: 1793), p. 340. Hamilton 
to Carleton, Jan. 25-^ Apr. 25, 1778: Haldimand 
MSS.] 

I have followed Boone as to the number of the 
Indians of Beaubien's party, his specific statement be- 
ing the result, doubtless, of actual count. Hamilton 
says four-score Shawanese had been engaged; but 
some Miami Indians were also in the expedition. 

There is again a variance between Boone's state- 
ment and Hamilton's — this time as to the number 
of men captured ; the former says there were twenty- 
seven ; the latter gives twenty-six. Boone would 
hardly have made a mistake in their number. 

There are a number of manifest errors in the Nar- 
rative of Boone. It is always to be cited with caution. 
Beaubien first went to Piqua and Chillicothe with his 
twenty-two Miami Indians, where he succeeded in 
persuading eighty Shawanese to accompany him; 
and the whole force marched thence to the vicinity 



572 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



of the Blue Licks, on their way to attack Boones- 
borough, when they came upon Boone. Then fol- 
lowed the capture of the latter and his men. And 
because the Indians, particularly the Miamis, would 
not continue the march and attack Boonesborough, 
Beaubien was offended, and soon left the Miami vil- 
lage for Detroit. 



NOTE XXXIV. 

"loose notes" of LIEUT. JACOB SCHIEFFELIN. 

These "Notes" were first printed in the Royal Ga^ 
zette. They refer mostly to the principal subject of 
our narrative — the conquest of the Illinois and Wabash 
towns and the immediate consequences resulting there- 
•from to a number of British and their allies who, 
as will hereafter be seen, fought against the American 
forces. 

In the Magazine of American History, vol. I, these 
"Notes" are reprinted from the Gazette and erron- 
eously credited to Hamilton (p. 192). Roosevelt 
{The Winning of the West, vol". II, p. 86n) blindly 
adopts the error, citing the Gazette evidently without 
having seen that periodical. 



NOTE XXXIV. 

CAPTAIN 0'hARRA''s VIRGINIA COMPANY. 

The history of this [Captain O'Harra's] Virginia 
Company is faintly traced in Jefferson's Works {The 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 673 

Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Edited by H. A. 
Washington. New York: 1854), vol. i, p. 236, and 
in Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, vol. XII, pp. 
126, 165, 167, 198. 

Says Bancroft [History of the United States (ed. 
of 1885), vol. V, p. 310] : "At Fort Kanawha, in 
May, they [Clark and his men] were reinforced by 
Captain O'Harra and his company." This is mis- 
leading. It carries the idea that Captain O'Harra 
and his company joined Clark to go upon the expedi- 
tion to the Illinois ; whereas, they were only to accom- 
pany him down the Ohio, intending to leave him 
where he should first land.* And this they did. Just 
here it may be said, that there was no "Fort Kanawha ;" 
it was "Fort Randolph." 

Singularly enough, in Henry's Henry, p. 590, Cap- 
tain O'Harra's company is mentioned as "Captain 
Harrod's." 

At least one writer has supposed that Captain 
Willing's company of mariners, which preceded Clark's 
force down the Ohio only three or four months, was 
connected with the latter — that is, that it was under 
Clark's command (see the statement of Isaac Craig, 
in Magazine of American Hisory, vol. Ill, p. 513) ; 
but this is error. Compare also Monnette's History of 
the Valley of the Mississippi, vol. I, pp. 416, 417. 

* This error has been frequently copied. See, as an 
instance, History of the Girtys, p. 72. 



574 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE XXXV. 

NO POST INTENDED TO BE ERECTED BY CLARK AT THE 
MOUTH OF THE KENTUCKY. 

Whatever were the declarations of Clark in after 
years as to his having, when reached the mouth of the 
Kentucky, some thoughts of fortifying a post there, 
it is evident from his assertions made soon after his 
expedition took place, that he had no such inten- 
tions — that he did not seriously consider any such 
plan — at any time while moving down the Ohio. 
What he really meant in informing County Lieutenant 
Bowman of his resolve to erect some kind of a forti- 
fication at the Falls will hereafter be fully discussed 
(see Note XXXIX of this Appendix). 



NOTE XXXVI. 

ESCAPE FROM THE ISLAND OF THE HOLSTON RECRUITS. 

Roosevelt says {The Winning of the West, vol. II, 
p. 40) that "the Kentuckians who had horses pur- 
sued the deserters." This carries the idea that some 
of the Kentuckians who had joined Clark brought 
horses along; and that these recruits were the ones 
that pursued the malcontents; but, the statement, as 
made by Butler, does not imply this (see his Kentucky, 
p. 50). The following, also, conveys an erroneous 
impression — Captain Dillard's men not having pre- 
viously "shown a disinclination to the service": "These 
[Clark's men] were encamped on what is now known 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 575 

as Corn Island, in order to prevent the desertion of 
Captain Dillard's company, which had shown a dis- 
inclination to the service." — Harper's Magazine, vol. 
XXII, p. 790. Other published statements inaccurate 
in a greater or less degree, may now be considered. 

"They [those of Captain Dillard's company who 
escaped] suffered greatly for their crime, and endured 
every degree of hardship and fatigue; for the Ken- 
tuckians spurned them from the gates of the wooden 
forts, and would not for a long time suffer them to 
enter." — Roosevelt: The Winning of the West, vol. 
II, p. 40. And that writer adds that they were hounded 
"back to the homes they had dishonored" after they 
had "suffered greatly for their crime" ; and that "their 
action [in leaving Clark] was due rather to wayward 
and sullen disregard of authority than cowardice." 
It is suggested, however, in view of the fact that they 
had enlisted, as they doubtless supposed, to go no 
farther than Kentucky, that their "deserting" was not, 
in their minds, a crime, nor were their homes dis- 
honored by their leaving. Their act, they believed, 
was neither cowardice nor a wayward and sullen dis- 
regard of authority. 

Another record says : "Only a very few [of Cap- 
tain Dillard's men who escaped from the island] were 
recaptured, while the rest, with the lieutenant, made 
their way to Harrodsfort, where the garrison for a 
long time refused them admittance. Many of these 
cowardly fellows perished from 'exhaustion or by 
the hands of the Indians, on their way home through 
the wilderness, the settlers everywhere refusing indig- 
nantly either to receive or hold communication with 
them" {Harpefs Magazine, vol. XXII, p. 790). This, 



576 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

of course, is an exaggerated statement: none died so 
far as known. 

Dunn, in his Indiana (p. 134), says: "Here [on 
the island] Clark first informed his men of the real 
design of the expedition, and naturally enough it put 
a damper on the ardor of many of them. A number 
of the Tennessee men asked leave to return home but 
were refused ; guards were placed over the boats to 
prevent desertion. In the night a part of the Ten- 
nessee men evaded the sentinels, waded to the Ken- 
tucky shore, and started for the settlements." But none 
of Dillard's men were from Tennessee; they were 
all Virginians. 

"The island on which the landing [by Clark] was 
made, since known as 'Corn Island,' was hot, a hundred 
years ago, the little pile of rocks and sand which we 
now see at low water only, on the upper side of the 
great railroad bridge across the Ohio just above the 
rapids. It was then a large island, extending from 
about the present Fifth to Thirteenth street [of Louis- 
ville], some four thousand feet in length, with an 
average breadth of about one-fourth its length. Its 
upper end was principally rocks, but the lower third 
was covered with large trees and cane. Here were 
sycamores and cottonwoods that ranked with the giants 
of the forests, and here little cane-brakes, from among 
Vs^hose stalks peeped wild flowers of the brightest 
colors." (E. T. Durrett, in The Courier- Journal of 
August 2, 1883.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 577 
NOTE XXXVII. 

OF THE KENTUCKIANS WHO JOINED CLARK. 

Butler says that the Kentiickians who joined Clark 
consisted of one company and part of another {History 
of Kentucky, p. 49). Clark speaks of them as "a few 
Kentuckians," — see his letter to Mason : Clark's 
Campaign in the Illinois, p. 26. As to their being but 
twenty, see Monnette's History of the Valley of the 
Mississippi, vol. I, p. 4i8n; — vol. 11, p. loi. 

"Clark was organizing an expedition against . . . 
Kaskaskia and invited as many settlers at Boones- 
borough and Harrodsburg as desired to join him. 
The times were so dangerous that the women, espe- 
cially, in the stations objected to the men going on 
such a distant expedition." — Collins' Kentucky (ed. 
of 1877), p. 446. But Clark sent out no invitations 
to settlers to join him in a movement "against Kas- 
kaskia," and no women in the settlements knew of the 
real object of his undertaking until after Colonel Bow- 
man reached the island in answer to Clark's call, — 
bringing with him what militia . he could well take 
along. 

As already mentioned, Monnette {History of the 
Valley of the Mississippi) is relied upon as giving the 
correct number of Kentuckians who were retained or, 
rather, accepted by Clark. I have not hesitated to 
give credence to that author so far as that number 
is concerned, as a tradition (seemingly reliable) gives 
the same; but Monnette, in some other statements, 
is wholly unreliable. For instance, in vol. I, (p. 
4i8n), he says that "he [Clark] succeeded in recruit- 

37 



578 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

ing only four companies at his rendezvous on Corn 
Island." And he further asserts (forgetting that he 
had previously (though erroneously) stated that 
Montgomery was one of the captains at Redstone 
under Clark) that it was "here [on the island] he 
became acquainted with the brave Captain Montgom- 
ery, 'an Irishman and full of fight/ who engaged in 
the enterprise with great ardor." 

The American commander speaks of Montgomery 
as "Colonel," but he went to Kentucky only as Cap- 
tain, as already shown" but, at date of Clark's letter 
to Mason, he was a Colonel. It is evident that the 
time for which his original company had enlisted had 
expired. He did not bring these men to Clark; he 
had "Kentuckians" with him, according to the Colonel's 
statement to Mason. 

Clark no where in his correspondence of the period 
mentions the name of Kenton; but the evidence is 
overwhelming that he went upon the expedition. That 
he was with Captain Montgomery when he joined 
Clark's force is not so certain; but, as the C(51onel 
mentions no other Kentuckians except those under the 
Captain, it is probable that such was the fact. In 
a traditionary account (which is, of course, errone- 
ous), it is stated that Kenton and one Haggin .were 
the only ones who went from Kentucky. See Collins's 
Kentucky (ed. of 1877), p. 446, for this, as follows: 

"Clark was organizing an expedition against Kas- 
kaskia and invited as many of the settlers at Boones- 
borough and Harrodsburg as desired to join him. 
The times were so dangerous that the women, especi- 
ally, in the stations objected to the men going on 
such an expedition; consequently to the great morti- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 579 

fication of Clark, only Kenton and Haggin left the 
stations to accompany him." 



NOTE XXXVIIL ■ 

CONCERNING CAPTAIN LINN's JOURNEY DOWN THE 
OHIO WITH A LETTER FOR CLARK GIVING INFOR- 
MATION OF THE FRENCH ALLIANCE WITH 
THE UNITED STATES. 

Hall Speaks of Linn as having been "allured by 
the kindred spirit of Clark and the prospects of 
gathering laurels in a distant field," and gives these 
as the reasons for his going down the Ohio with 
Campbell's letter to Clark. Now, evidently, "a distant 
field" refers to the Illinois ; but Linn, until he reached 
Clark and the latter had divulged his secret, knew 
nothing of the Colonel's real destination. It is highly 
probable that Linn was sent by Campbell expressly to 
convey the news to Clark and the Kentucky settlements 
generally, of the French alliance. Butler intimates 
(History of Kentucky, p. 50), basing his conclusion 
upon what he supposes is the statement of Clark in 
his Memoir (Dillon's Indiana, ed. of 1859, P- 122), 
that the Colonel received the news while going down 
the Ohio after leaving the island. It is evident, how- 
ever, that such was not the case. The rapidity of 
the Colonel's movement precludes this idea. 

Campbell was a Continental officer: "They [the 
'rebels'] intend erecting forts at the Falls and other 
places on the Ohio to secure a communication down 
the Mississippi. One John Campbell, of Fort Pitt, 



580 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

received a commission from the Cengress last winter 
with orders to collect or raise men for that purpose." 
— Hay to Brehm [Sept. — , 1778]. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



NOTE XXXIX. 

FICTION OF CLARK HAVING SELECTED THE FALLS OF 

THE OHIO AS A PLACE FOR A MILITARY POST 

WHILE ON HIS EXPEDITION AGAINST THE 

ILLINOIS. 

Butler (History of Kentucky, p. 49) declares that 
Clark fixed upon the Falls as a more desirable posi- 
tion for a fortification than the mouth of the Kentucky 
(where, for spme time after landing, he had thoughts 
of "fortifying a post") not only because of its more 
western localit}^ but for the reason that there the 
craft in the river trade would be compelled to stop 
in order to prepare for the passage of the rapids, and 
which without fortification would be much exposed 
to the hostilities of the Indians. But there was no 
river trade at that time. And it was far from the 
Colonel's intention to undertake, at that time, the 
"fortifying of a post" anywhere on the Ohio, or even 
to select a place for a fortification, to protect the pros- 
pective river trade or the Kentucky settlements. 

Roosevelt (The Winning of the West, vol. II, p. 
39), in attempting to follow Butler, travels farther into 
the realm of fiction: "This spot he [Clark] chose, 
both because from it he could tlireaten and hold in 
check the dififerent Indian tribes, and because he 
deemed it wise to have some fort to protect in the 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 581 

future the craft that might engage in the river travel 
when they stopped to prepare for the passage of the 
rapids." 

Another historian declares : "On arriving with his 
forces at the Falls of the Ohio, Colonel Clark took 
possession of an island which contained about seven 
acres. He divided this island among a small num- 
ber of families, for whose protection he constructed 
some light fortifications." [Dillon's Indiana, (ed. of 
1859) p. 121.] The last half of this extract conveys 
an erroneous impression, — the inference being that 
the "light fortifications" were "constructed" solely for 
the "small number of families" on the island. 

"In 1778 . . . Gen. George Rogers Clark, 
with a few families and adventurers located at the 
"Tails' [of the Ohio], which was then probably the 
frontier settlement in 'the dark and bloody ground.' " 
(Isaac Smucker, in The American Historical Register, 
vol. II, p. 60.) But Clark did not settle at the Falls 
of the Ohio during that year. And the same writer 
still further cdnfuses matters by stating (p. 61) that 
Clark settled permanently in Kentucky in 1776. 



NOTE XL. 



NUMBER OF CLARK S MEN ON LEAVING THE ISLAND. 

As to the number of men under Clark who started 
down the Ohio from the island, Captain Bowman, in 
his letter to Hite, of July 30, 1778 says: "The force 
consisted of about 170 or 180 men"; and the Virginia 
governor, Patrick Henry, in his letter to the delegates 



682 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

in Congress from his state, of the fourteenth of No- 
vember, following, says the same — at least by infer- 
ence. [See this last mentioned letter in Butler's Ken- 
tucky (2d ed.), p. 533; also, in Moses Coit Tyler's 
Life of Patrick Henry, p. 230 ; and in Henry's Patrick 
Henry, vol. II, p. 16 and vol. Ill, p. 200: before cited. 
See, too, George Mason's Plan for Cession of the Ter- 
ritory of the Northzvest to the United States, dated 
July 2y, 1780 (Kate Mason Rowland's Life of Mason, 
vol. I, p. 365). Mason says there were "about one 
hundred and eighty" officers and men.] 

Allowing one hundred and fifty men as the num- 
ber that came with Clark down the Ohio, and adding 
the twenty men who came to him and were put under 
Captain Montgomery, and the result is a force of one 
hundred and seventy. There were, it is true, a few of 
Dillard's men, those that did not desert, and six or 
eight more who did, but were brought back ; but from 
these we must deduct the number left behind on the 
island, as stated in the next paragraph in the text 
and in the foot-note thereto. There could not have 
been less, therefore, than 170 men and, probably, there 
were a few more — in all, as stated in the text, about 
180 including officers. 

It was afterward the positive declaration of Ken- 
ton that Clark's force when it finally left the island 
amounted to "one hundred and fifty-three fighting 
men." (Compare McDonald's Sketches, p. 219; 
Monnette's History of the Mississippi Valley, vol. I, 
p. 418, note.) But it is evident his memory, in this 
regard, was at fault. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 583 



NOTE XLI. 

AS TO THE FAMILIES AND SOLDIERS LEFT UPON THE 
ISLAND. 

"About twenty families that had followed me much 
against my inclination I found now to be of service to 
me in guarding a block-house that I had erected on 
the island to secure my provisions." (Clark to Ma- 
son — Clark's Cauipaign in the Illinois, p. 27.) This 
is calculated to mislead. Standing, as it does, alone, 
without any reference to a detachment of soldiers 
having been left on the island, the inference is, that 
the men of these families were the only ones remaining 
as guards for the post, which is error. The Colonel 
had also forgotten that a number of the families had 
gone into the settlements. 

"We left ten or twelve families with a quantity of 
provisions and a few men to guard them." — Bowman 
to Hite. Some traditions give thirteen as the num- 
ber of families left on the island. (See Marshall's 
Kentucky, vol. I, p. 6y.) 

The detail of soldiers was composed of Isaac 
Ruddle, James Sherlock, Alexander Mclntyre, Wil- 
liam Foster, Samuel Finley, Neal Doharty, and Isaac 
McBride. (Durrett, in The Southern Bivouac, Jan., 
1884.) 

"Clark had weeded out all those whom he deemed 
unable to stand fatigue and hardship; his four little 
companies were of picked men, each with a good 
captain.". (Roosevelt — The Winning of the West, 
vol. II, p. 41.) But this conveys a wrong impres- 
sion ; Clark simply left behind those he thought clearly 



584 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

unable to bear the toil which he was satisfified would 
be the lot of all. 

Tradition gives this description of the depository 
and defensive work left by Clark on the island: 

"The highest ground on the northwest corner . . . 
was chosen for the site of the buildings. The huge 
Cottonwood trees were felled, cut into sections and 
split into large rails for making the walls of the 
houses. Two rows of one-story double cabins, four in 
each row, were erected, with a wide road between 
them; one row facing the Indiana, the other the 
Kentucky shore. On the eastern front of these were 
erected two triple cabins, or cabins with three rooms 
each; so that the ground-plan of the whole was in 
the form of an Egyptian cross. The buildings had 
no floors and the roofs were of riven boards, held on 
by skids. The doors were puncheons, with wooden 
hinges, and the windows simply holes in the walls, 
from which logs had been removed." And these 
structures, with some picketing, formed the fort. 
(Durrett.) 

"From thence [that is, from the mouth of the 
Great Kanawha]," wrote Captain Bowman (letter to 
Hite), "we continued down to the Falls of the Ohio, 
where we erected a small garrison upon an island." 
This implies rather more than a mere depository for 
provisions. It is probable that work continued on 
the buildings for some time after Clark's departure. 
Hamilton afterward wrote that, from what he could 
learn, "it was very insignificant in its present state." 
(Hamilton to Haldimand, Dec. 4, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 585 
NOTE XLIL 

CLARK LEAVES THE ISLAND FOR KASKASKIA. 

Concerning Clark's starting from the island, and 
of the eclipse of the sun which happened immediately 
thereafter and of its effects upon the ignorant ones 
of his force, much has been written. In his Memoir, 
Clark says the eclipse caused various conjectures 
among the superstitious of his men. Butler {History 
of Kentucky, p. 50) follows the Memoir substantially: 
"The next dav, when the sun was in a total eclipse, the 
boats passed the Falls. This circumstance divided the 
men in their prognostications, but not quite with the 
terror and alarm we read of in ancient armies." But 
Roosevelt {The Winning of the West, vol. II, p. 41) 
improves on Clark: "On the 24th of June Clark's 
boats put out from shore, and shot the falls at the 
very moment that there was a great eclipse of the 
sun, at which the frontiersmen wondered greatly, hut 
for the most part held it to he a good omen [the 
italicising is mine]." 

Bancroft [History of the United States (ed. of 
1885), vol. V, p. 310] makes a confused statement 
of Clark's leaving the island: 

"On the day of an eclipse of the sun they glided 
over the falls of the Ohio, below which they were 
'joined by a few Kentuckians' under John Mont- 
gomery. On the twenty-sixth of June, Clark and his 
companions, Virginians in the service of Virginia, 
set off from the falls, and with oars double-manned, 
proceeded night and day on their ever-memorable 
enterprise." 



686 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

By this it will be seen that Bancroft supposed 
Clark and his men "glided over the falls" before 
stopping on the island; and that they started for the 
Illinois two days after the eclipse. 

"About the 24th of June, he [Clark] commenced 
his voyage down the river [from the island], after 
communicating to his officers the object and design of 
the expedition. 

"Arrangements for additional supplies had been 
made by the Federal authorities, through Captain 
William Lynn and Captain James Willing, to be ob- 
tained from the Spaniards in New Orleans for the 
supply of all the posts in the region of the Ohio, as 
well as for the expedition to the upper Mississippi." 
(Monnette's History of the Valley of the Mississippi, 
vol. I, pp. 416, 417.) But, as we have seen, Clark 
communicated not only to his officers but to the rank 
and file "the object and design of the expedition" be- 
fore leaving the island for Kaskaskia. Neither the 
Federal nor the Virginia authorities made any ar- 
rangements through "Lynn" or Willing, for Clark's 
expedition ; — that is, for "the expedition to the upper 
Mississippi." 



NOTE XLIIL 



CLARK S ERRONEOUS ASSERTION THAT HE HAD 
THOUGHTS OF FIRST ATTACKING VINCENNES. 

"My force [on the island] being so small to what 
I expected," are the words of Clark years after, 
"owing to the various circumstances already men- 
tioned, I found it necessary to alter my plans of oper- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 587 

ation. As Post Vincennes, at this time, was a town 
of considerable force, consisting of near four hundred 
mihtia, with an Indian town adjoining, and [with] 
great numbers [of savages] continually in the neigh- 
borhood, and in the scale of Indian affairs of more 
importance than any other, I had thought of attacking 
it first; but now found I could by no means venture 
near it. I resolved to begin my career in the Illinois, 
where there were more inhabitants, but scattered in 
different villages, and less danger of being imme- 
diately overpowered by the Indians : in case of nec- 
essity, we could probably make our retreat to the 
Spanish side of the Mississippi, but if successful, we 
might pave our way to the possession of the Post 
Vincennes. 

*'I had fully acquainted myself that the French 
inhabitants in those western settlements had great in- 
fluence among the Indians in general and were more 
beloved by them than any other Europeans ; that their 
commercial intercourse was universal throughout the 
western and northwestern countries ; and that the 
governing interest on the lakes was mostly in the 
hands of the English, who were not much beloved by 
them. These, and many other ideas similar thereto, 
caused me to resolve, if possible, to strengthen myself 
by such train of conduct as might probably attach 
the French inhabitants to our interest, and give us 
influence at a greater distance than the country we 
were aiming for." Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana 
(ed. of 1859), P- 122. But it could not have been that 
Clark, on the island, changed his "plans of operation." 
He was on his way to Kaskaskia direct, before he 
descended the Ohio at all; and this plan to have de- 



588 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

viated from, and first to have marched against Vin- 
cennes, would have been certainly, in violation of his 
Private Instructions. As to what Clark says about 
the influence of the French with the Indians and as 
to their commercial intercourse throughout the North- 
west, — it is probable he drew on subsequent infor- 
mation, largely, for that; so, also, as to the govern- 
ing interest on the lakes being mostly in the hands 
of the English, who were not much beloved by the 
savages. 

"Colonel Clark for some time meditated a blow 
against St. Vincennes [Vincennes], but on reviewing 
his little body ... he determined to prosecute the 
original object of his expedition. The facility of re- 
treat to the Spanish possessions, as well as the more 
dispersed state of the French settlements in the Illi- 
nois, as it was called, seem to have had great weight 
in this selection. To this was added a hope that he 
might attach the French to the American interest, 
whose influence over the Indians throughout these 
extensive territories was strengthened by time, and 
maintained by a tact and versatility which have been 
undiminished for two centuries." (Butler's Kentucky, 
p. 50.) It will be seen that that writer entirely over- 
looks the Private Instructions given by Gov. Henry 
to Clark, which he publishes in full on p. 395 of his 
history (ed. of 1834). Nor is there any evidence ex- 
tant, that, in any oral instructions given by Governor 
Henry to the Colonel, the latter was authorized to 
attack Vincennes before going to Kaskaskia. "I was 
ordered to attack the Illinois," are the words of Clark 
to Mason {Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 23), 
and ''in case of success, to carry my arms to any 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 589 

quarter I pleased [the italicising is mine]." And see, 
also, pp. 31 and 32 of the same work. 

It is clear that the clause in the Memoir, there- 
fore, which we have quoted, is mostly erroneous. The 
writer, who, of all others, has builded most upon these 
errors is E. A. Bryan, in his article, "Indiana's First 
Settlement," in Magamne of American History, 
vol. XXI. 



NOTE XLIV. 



AS TO THE HUNTERS CAPTURED BY CLARK ; ALSO CON- 
CERNING FORT MASSAC. 

"He [Clark] doubled-manned his oars and rowed 
night and day until he reached a small island off the 
mouth of the Tennessee, where he halted to make his 
final preparations, and was there joined by a little 
party of American hunters, [the italicismg is mine]." 
(Roosevelt, in The Winning of the West, vol. II, pp. 
41, 42.) But it is evident the island was not off 
the mouth of the Tennessee (i. e., in the Ohio), but 
in that river. As to these hunters being "American" 
in sentiment — that is not altogether certain. Clark in 
his letter to Mason says they "appeared to be in our 
interest" ; nevertheless, he required them to take the 
oath of allegiance. They having just come from Kas- 
kaskia, is a circumstance militating against the idea 
of their being in favor of the independence of America, 
even though they formerly came, as Clark says in 
his Memoir they did, "from the States." However, 
they now resolved, possibly from a love of adventure, 
to cast their lot with Clark. 



590 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Roosevelt, also, same volume, (p. 42), in attempt- 
ing to follow Clark's Memoir travels outside of it 
in stating that Rocheblave's militia were not only- 
well drilled but "in constant readiness to repel attack" ; 
and that "the Indians and the coureurs des hois were 
warned to be on the look-out for any American force." 
In view of the fact that some of the Illinois hunters 
were English, the substitution of ''coureurs des bois" 
for the word "hunters" is of course absurd. 

A writer in The North American Reviezv, vol. 
XLIII, (July, 1836), p. 15, already cited, adds to 
what is said by Clark in his Memoir as to his deter- 
mination to improve upon the information received of 
the hunters, in these words : 

"Colonel Clark saw, that by wisely managing this 
prejudice [which he was told by the hunters existed 
in the Illinois against Americans], and the informa- 
tion he had received on the [Ohio] river, of the treaty 
between France and the United States, he might be 
able to secure the assistance of the French; without 
this he could have little hope of ultimate success." 

"Clark had a hard winter's work in enlisting men, 
but at length, in May, 1778, having collected a flotilla 
of boats and a few pieces of light artillery, he started 
from Pittsburg with 180 picked riflemen, and rowed 
swiftly down the Ohio river a thousand miles to its 
junction with the Mississippi." — Fiske: The Amer- 
ican Revolution, vol. II, p. 105. That was about sixty 
miles farther upon the river than the Colonel actually 
row^ed, as already shown. He did not reach the Mis- 
sissippi by about that distance. As to artillery, Clark 
took none down the Ohio. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 591 

Fort Massac was on the north side of the Ohio, 
ten miles below the mouth of the Tennessee river. Its 
official name — given by the French when they built it 
and who then occupied the valley of the Ohio — was 
"I'Assomption." It was erected in 1756 (some writers 
claim it was only strengthened, and was built much 
earlier) to counteract the building, by the English, 
of Fort London on the upper waters of the Tennessee. 
A description of the fort is in the Archives of the 
Marine, Paris, France. (See Douglas Brymner's Re- 
port on Canadian Archives, 1887, p. ccxviii.) It was, 
of course, unoccupied at date of Clark's visit. For 
additional mention of this fortification, see N. Y. Colo- 
nial Documents, vol. X, p. 1092; Monnette's Mu- 
sissippi Valley, vol. I, p. 317; Pownalls' Topographical 
Description of the Middle British Colonies, pp. 3, 5 ; 
Bouquet's Expedition (Cincinnati: Robert Clark & 
Co's reprint, 1868) p. 143; Hutchin's Topographical 
Description of Va., etc., p. 12; Washburn's Edwards 
Papers, p. 55 ; Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 28; 
Scharfs St. Louis, vol. I, p. 71. Consult, also, Collot's 
Journey in North America; McBride's Pioneer Bio- 
graphy, vol. II ; and Nicollet's Report. In subsequent 
years, the fortification was occupied by U. S. troops, 
for a time. 



NOTE XLV. 

Clark's route from the ohio to kaskaskia. 

Both in his letter to Mason {Clark's Campaign in 
the Illinois, p, 29) and in his Memoir (Dillon's 



592 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Indiana, p. 124) Clark speaks of starting in a north- 
west course: "took a route to the northwest" — "set 
out [in] a northwest course" (not in a northeast 
direction, as some writers affirm). 

The distance from where the Colonel left the Ohio 
to Kaskaskia is given by Rocheblave as sixty leagues 
(see his letter to Carleton of August 3, 1778, from the 
Haldimand MSS., in Mason's Early Chicago and Ill- 
inois, p. 418). These were French leagues — two and 
four-tenths miles each — making the whole equal to 
one hundred and forty-four miles. 

Clark did not, as many have supposed, follow the 
"old Fort Massac trail" leading to Kaskaskia and Fort 
Chartres. This trace, at that time, had, in some places, 
from disuse, wholly disappeared. 

It took the French four days brisk travel on horse- 
back to go from Fort Massac to Kaskaskia by that 
trail. This trace is distinctly laid down on Thomas 
Hutchins' New Map of the Western Parts of Virginia, 
Pennsylvania," etc., London, 1778. 

"A military road," says an early Illinois writer, 
"was opened and marked, each mile on a tree, from 
Massac: to Kaskaskia. The numbers of the miles were 
cut in ciphers with an iron and painted. red. Such 
I saw there in 1800. This road made. a great curve to 
the north to avoid the swanps and rough country on 
the sources of Cash river, and also to obtain the prairie 
country as soon as possible. This road was first made 
by the French when they had dominion of the country 
and was called the Old Massac road" [by the Ameri- 
cans]. — John Re3molds [The Pioneer History of 
Illinois, p. 281 (ed. of 1887)]. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 59S 

It is evident that the description of this road as 
given by Reynolds does not agree with what Clark 
says as to his route in so far as marking trees is con- 
cerned, after about fifty miles — when he reached 
"level plains;" that is, the prairies. Of course, there 
were no trees to be found "each mile," to be marked, 
as the Illinois author describes. His own statement 
immediately after, disproves this, as the route "made 
a great bend to the north . „ . to obtain the prairie 
country as soon as possible." 

Some writers of Western history state that the 
route taken by Clark was wholly a new one. One of 
these historians (John Moses, in his Illinois, vol. I, p. 
148) has the following: "Kaskaskia , the objective 
point, was one hundred and twenty miles away and 
the hitherto untrodden route lay through wilderness 
and swamp." Evidently this is error, as "mitrodden" 
here applies to the entire distance, and we have Clark's 
statement (by inference) that the last part was along 
the "hunters' road" [Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), 
loc. cit.] 

Rufus Blanchard {History of Illinois, to Accom- 
pany an Historical Map of the State, pp. 121, 122) 
says: "The trail of George Rogers Clark from Fort 
Massac to Kaskaskia marks an epoch in American 
history of transcendent import. It passed close by the 
present site of Marion [Illinois], and afterward be- 
came a well frequented trail between Golconda and 
Kaskaskia." Mr. Blanchard also has laid down on 
the map accompanying his "History," the supposed 
"trail." 

But Clark and the few men constituting his force, 
all on foot as they were and traveling the last of June 

38 



594 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and the first days of July, left no signs behind them, 
after the prairie country was reached, that could be 
relied upon as pointing out subsequently their route 
to the "hunters' road." If, therefore, we are to con- 
sider what Blanchard marks, to be the route, never- 
theless it must be wholly an imaginary one after about 
fifty miles from the Ohio, until the "hunters' road" 
is reached; and just where that was, is unknown. 

An early Kentucky historian says : 

"The route to be pursued from this place [where he 
(Clark) hid his boats] lay in a direction somewhat to 
the north of west through a low, uncultivated region, 
interspersed with ponds of various dimensions — 
with the geography and general character of which, 
Colonel Clark was not unacquainted. At the head of 
his regiment, he took up his line of march, on foot, 
with a rifle in his hand and his provisions on his back." 
f Marshall's Kentucky, vol. I, p. 67.) 

Another Western writer gives this relation con- 
cerning the route: 

"He [Clark] was now [at the point where he hid 
his boats] distant from Kaskaskia about one hundred 
and thirty miles, and the intervening country — with 
which the writer is familiarly acquainted — must have 
been at that period, when in a state of nature, almost 
impassable." (Hall: The Romance of Western His- 
tory, p. 295.) 

See further as to mention of the route from the 
Ohio to Kaskaskia, the next Note of this Appendix. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 596 



NOTE XLVL 

CONCERNING CLARK^S TROUBLE WITH HIS GUIDE IN 
MARCHING FROM THE OHIO TO KASKASKIA. 

The Statement by Clark in his Memoir concerning 
the difficulty he had with his guide is that he asked 
him (Saunders) various questions, and from his an- 
swers he could scarcely determine what to think of 
him; — whether he was lost or was attempting to de- 
ceive. The cry of the men was that he was a traitor. 
He begged that he might be suffered to go some dis- 
tance into a prairie that was in full view, to try and 
make some discovery whether or not he was right. "I 
told him [Saunders]," says Clark, "he might go, but 
that I was suspicious of him from his conduct ; that, 
from the first day of his being employed, he always said 
he knew the way v/ell ; that there was now a different 
appearance; that I saw the nature of the country was 
such that a person once acquainted with it, could not 
in a short time forget it; that a few men should go 
with him to prevent his escape ; and that if he did not 
discover, and take us into, the hunters' road that led 
from the east into Kaskaskia, which he had frequently 
described, I would have him immediately put to death, 
which I was determined to have done; but after a 
search of an hour or two he came to a place that he 
knew perfectly, and we discovered that the poor fellow 
had been, as they call it, bewildered." The only vari- 
ance of any note in this account with that given by 
Clark to Mason is where he speaks of letting Saunders 
go in search of the hunters' road having with him a 
few men. 



596 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Bancroft [History of the United States (ed. of 
1885), vol. V, p. 311] says: 

Apprised of the condition of Kaskaskia by a band 
of hunters, Clark ran his boats into a creek a mile 
above Fort Massac, reposed there but for a night, and 
struck across the hills to the great prairie. On the 
treeless plain his party 'in all about one hundred and 
eighty' could be seen for miles around by nations of 
Indians, able to fall on them w^ith three times their 
number; yet they vv^ere in the highest spirits, and he 
felt as never again in his life a flow of rage,' an in- 
tensity of will, a zeal for action." 

These words convey several erroneous ideas, some 
directly ; others by inference : ( i ) that, because of 
the information received from the band of hunters, 
Clark ran his boats into a creek a mile above Fort 
Massac; (2) that he struck across the hills (by infer- 
ence near the Ohio) to the great prairie; (3) that the 
nations of Indians in the country around could muster 
about three times as many as Clark's men and, would 
do so if they knew of his coming; (4) that Clark's 
flow of rage was against the British and their Indian 
allies. 

Clark intended when he left the island to strike 
across the country from a point at or near the site of 
Fort Massac. He did not reach the great prairie for 
fifty miles after leaving the Ohio. The various In- 
dian nations within striking distance had not generally 
taken up the hatchet against the Americans. And 
Clark's rage was only against his guide. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 597 



NOTE XLVII. 

THE SUJ^FERING FROM HUNGER OF CLARK's FORCE 
ON THE MARCH. 

It is altogether certain that Clark expected to reach 
Kaskaskia after leaving the Ohio, in four days and 
had only taken along provisions for that length of 
time; but, as his journey was protracted to six days, 
the last two were days of fasting. 

In his Memoir, Clark says: 'The weather was 
favorable; in some parts water was scarce, as well as 
game; of course we suffered drought and hunger, but 
not to excess." (Dillon's Indiana, ed. of 1859, p. 
124.) But as Bowman in his letter to Hite, cited in 
the text, wrote only a few weeks after the march, his 
recollection would be vivid as to the hunger; and 
he plainly indicates that it caused considerable distress. 
In his letter to Mason, Clark is silent upon the subject. 
A recent writer says: 

"On the evening of the fourth of July, weary, foot- 
sore and hungry, Colonel Clark and his little army 
came within sight of Kaskaskia. Only the river flowed 
between them and the fort, of which they hoped soon 
to take possession." [Mary Cone, in "The Expedition 
and Conquests of General George Rogers Clarke, in 
1778-9": Magazine of Western History, vol. II. (May, 
1885). p. 143]. But Clark does not say that, at their 
first halt, they were in sight of Kaskaskia as this ex- 
tract implies ; it is evident they were not ; nor had they 
yet reached the river Kaskaskia. But this lady truly 
affirms, "the river flowed between them and the fort, 
of which they hoped soon to take possession." That 



598 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

fortification was Fort Gage ; and Clark and his army 
were on the east side of the stream. (See next note 
in this Appendix.) 



NOTE XLVIII. 

AS TO THE CROSSING OF THE KASKASKIA RIVER, THE 

LOCATION OF FORT GAGE AND ITS CAPTURE, AND 

THE TAKING OF THE TOWN. 

The language of Clark both in his letter to Mason 
and in his Memoir plainly indicates that after reaching 
the Kaskaskia, it was the next step to secure boats for 
the Colonel and his men — not a part of them — to 
cross over the river to the town. A recent writer 
(Mary Cone) truthfully says: 

"They waited under cover until darkness, whose 
friendly hand should spread its veil over the scene and 
conceal them from the eyes of the enemy. When the 
shades of night had thickened so as to render them in- 
visible they marched to a farm-house which was less 
than a mile from the fort and making the family 
prisoners, took possession of the house. Here they 
found boats to cross the river, and, having crossed in 
silence and stillness, they took up their line of march 
for the fort. They approached so noiselessly that 
neither the town, nor the fort was aware of his com- 
ing." {Magazine of Western History, article "George 
Rogers Clark," vol. II.) 

Butler {History of Kentucky, p. 52) erroneously 
writes : 

"A sufficient quantity of boats for transportation 
of the troops was soon procured ; two divisions of the 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 599 

party crossed the river with orders to repair to different 
parts of the town, while Colonel Clark, with the third 
division took possession of the fort . . „ on this 
[the east] side of the river in point blank shot of the 
town. "Here, for the first time, Butler refuses to fol- 
low Clark's Memoir; but the latter is correct in this 
regard, and Butler is in error. 

Reynolds {Pioneer History of Illinois (ed. of 1887, 
p. 93 ) goes still farther astray : 

''Two parties were to cross the Kaskaskia river and 
the other was to remain on the east side so as to cap- 
ture the town and fort at the same time. The fearless 
Captain Helm commanded the troops [which were] 
to cross the river and take the village; while Clark 
himself commanded the other wing to capture the fort. 
Boats and canoes were procured to cross the river." 

The importance attached to the exact location of 
Fort Gage, and the fact that it is a matter of contro- 
versy, justify the bringing forward proofs that are at 
command — all showing unmistakably that it was not 
on the east side of the Kaskaskia, but on the west side, 
and in the village. Until a late date, this fort, ever 
since the Revolution, has been by all writers of West- 
ern history (as well as by tradition) confounded with 
the fort built by the French — the same which pre- 
vious to its destruction by fire in 1766, stood upon the 
east bank of the Kaskaskia river. 

"It is now [1887] the popular belief of the resi- 
dents in the vicinity and it has been the positive state- 
ment of all writers on the subject [except that of Mary 
Cone, in the Magazine of Western History, vol. II, 
p. 153] that the fort in which Colonel Clark captured 
Rocheblave was on the high bluff opposite the town. 



600 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

where there is still abundant evidence that a fort once 
existed, and now is known by the name, of 'Fort Gage.' 
The spot is daily pointed out to visitors as perhaps the 
most noted locality in the Western country. During 
the past year [1886] a historical painting (40 x 30 
feet), illustrating Col. Clark's capture of Kaskaskia 
has been placed on the walls of the State House at 
Springfield, 111. In the centre of the picture is the site 
of the old fort on the bluff, and near it stands the 
Jesuit church. In the foreground is Col. Clark 
addressing a council of Indians." (William Frederick 
Poole, in . "The West," in Winsor's Narrative and 
Critical History of America, vol. VI, p. 719 n.) 

In a criticism upon Mary Cone's assertion that the 
fort was upon the west side of the river — that "only 
the river [Kaskaskia] flowed between them [Clark and 
his men] and the fort of which they hoped soon to 
take possession" — Mr. John Moses (in the same 
Magazine, vol II, pp. 268, 269) says: "But the river 
did not flow between the Colonel and the fort. Fort 
Gage was on the left or eastern side of the river, which 
'flowed' between it and the village [of Kaskaskia]. 
And so was Colonel Clark. Now it might not make 
much dift'erence to any one at the present time to 
place the great Caesar on the wrong side of the Rubi- 
con, so far off, and which he crossed so long ago, but 
to place Washington on the wrong side of the Dela- 
ware, or Colonel George Rogers Clark on the wrong 
side of the Kaskaskia, will hardly be permitted with- 
out objection and complaint." But Mr. Moses soon 
changed his views on the subject; for, in his Illinois, 
vol. I, p. 151, he ingeniously writes: "There is no evi- 
dence, indeed, that Col. Clark ever occupied the old 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 601 

fort on the hill [on the east side of the Kaskaskia]"; 
— a safe proposition as there was no fort there to be 
occupied, nor had there been for twelve years prior 
to Clark's appearance. 

"It [the French fort] was an oblongular quad- 
rangle," wrote one who visited Kaskaskia a short time 
after its destruction, "290 by 251 feet" and was built 
of very thick squared timber. "An officer and twenty 
men [British]," he adds, "are quartered in the vil- 
lage."* An account written before the British took 
possession of the Illinois^ — that is, before 1765, says: 

"Two leagues up this [the Kaskakia] river, on the 
left, is the settlement of the Kaskasquias [Kaskaskia] 
which is the most considerable of the Illinois. There 
is a fort built upon the height on the other side of the 
river, over against Kaskasquias ; which, as the river 
is narrow, commands and protects the town. I don't 
know how many guns there may be, nor how many 
men it may contain. There may be about 400 inhabit- 
ants [in the town]."f 

The site of the old fort (which fortification never 
had any specific name, it being designated, along with 
the town, simply as "the Kaskasquias") was 500 yards 
from the river, and after being burned down, as just 
Tnentioned, was not rebuilt, although a plan "which 
would cost a good deal of money," was submitted to 
General Haldimand in 1767, for a new one. J 

* Pittman : Present State of the European Settlements on 
the Mississippi, loc. cit. 

'\ Bouquet's Expedition against the Ohio Indians, pp. 
145, 146. 

I Haldimand to Gage, April 31 [30 ?], 1767, from Pensa- 
cola — Haldimand MSS. : ''L't. Pittman has arrived from 



602 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The French fort (that is, the fort which was on the 
east side of the Kaskaskia river previous to 1766) 
must have had an EngHsh garrison only a short time, 
as it was burned the next year after the British took 
possession of the Hhnois."^ It is not a Httle remark- 
able that a citizen of Illinois, who, as early as 1800, 
resided in Kaskaskia, should have left this record: 
"The English government [in 1772] abandoned Fort 
Chartres and established its authority at Fort Gage, 
on the bluff east of Kaskaskia." [Reynolds: My 
Oiifn Times (ed. of 1879), p. 31.] Again: The Brit- 
ish garrison occupied Fort Gage, which stood on the 
Kaskaskia river bluffs opposite the village." [Pioneer 
History (ed. of 1887), P- 8i-] He adds: 'This fort 
continued the headquarters of the British while they 
possessed the country. Fort Gage was built of large 
square timbers and was an oblong, measuring 290 by 
251 feet. There were in this fort, in the year 1772 an 
officer and twenty soldiers. In the village of Kaskas- 
kia there were two French companies organized and 
in good discipline ready to march at a moment's warn- 
ing." And in reference to Clark's movements when 
the Colonel reached the stream his words are (p. 94) : 
"Two parties crossed the river; the other party re- 
mained with Colonel Clark to attack the fort." 

The declaration in Butler's Kentucky (p. 52) that 
two divisions [of Clark's force] crossed the river, while 

Illinois; sends the plan of a fort to cost a good deal of 
money." 

* Mr. Moses, in his Illinois, vol. I, pp. 149-151, supposes 
that the fort built by the FrencJi, was, after its occupation by 
the British, known as "Fort Gage." But the words of Hamil- 
ton to Carleton, June 26, 1777, hereafter given in this Note, 
imply the contrary. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 603 

Clark with the third division took possession of the 
fort on this [the east] side of the river, in point-blank 
shot of the town," is an error which may be found re- 
peated, with slight variations or additions in many- 
works of Western history. It may also be stated that 
Blanchard, in his Historical Map of Illinois which is 
attached to his History of Illinois (Chicago: 1883), 
marks Fort Gage erroneously on the east side of the 
Kaskaskia — making it identical with the position 
formerly occupied by the French fort. 

It may be said here that Clark's Memoir when pub- 
lished in Dillon's Indiana and his letter to Mason when 
printed by Robert Clark & Co., were both calculated 
to direct public attention to the fact that the fort cap- 
tured by Clark (Fort Gage) was not on the east side 
of the Kaskaskia ; nevertheless, Mary Cone's article in 
the Magazine of Western History, already cited, gave 
it such prominence as to awaken, for the first time, 
the spirit of inquiry concerning its true location ; and 
this, under the intelligent examination of William 
Frederick Poole, soon determined not only that the 
fortification was on the zvest side, but that it was the 
real "Fort Gage." 

"The fort, in which resided the commandant. . . 
stood on the western bank of the stream." (Coleman, 
in Harper's Magasine, vol. XXII, p. 790.) This is 
true as to the fort ; but he complicates matters by add- 
ing that it was "opposite to and within point-blank 
range of the town ;" while, as already mentioned, it 
was actually in Kaskaskia. 

There are several statements in Clark's letter to 
Mason and in his Memoir, referring to events which 
transpired subsequent to his capture of Fort Gage, 



604 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

which clearly show it to have been located in Kaskas- 
kia. Other authorities are not wanting proving beyond 
a peradventure that such was its position.* 

It was about the middle of the eighteenth century 
that the Jesuits built the stone building in Kaskaskia, 
known as their seminary, or college. But their order 
was suppressed in France and its colonies in 1763, and 
their property confiscated to the Crown. What they 
were possessed of in and near Kaskaskia consisted of 
two hundred acres of cultivated land, a very good 
stock of cattle, and a brewery. They had, too, their 
college in the southeast portion of the village, while 
their church edifice (also of stone) was near the center, 
both of which, considering the out-of-the-way region, 
in which they had been erected, made "a very good 
appearance." Such of the property of the Jesuits as 
was needed for public use was retained, and the re- 
mainder sold. 

[Philip Pittman's Present State of the European 
Settlements on the Mississippi (London: 1770), p. 43. 
Compare William Frederick Poole's article "The 
West," in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of 
America, vol. VI, pp. 719-722.] One portion not dis- 
posed of was the college building and grounds, and it 
was this edifice that was afterward fortified and named 
"Fort Gage," as the following extracts sufficiently 
prove : 

~ "Fort Gage — the Jesuits' House at Kaskaskia — 
[was] so named by Captain Lord of the Royal Irish, 
who, in 1772, surrounded it with stockades 15 feet 

* Among these are the letter of Captain Bowman to Hite 
(before cited) and "Bowman's Journal" (hereafter to be 
described). 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 605 

high. It is in the town of Kaskaskia." (Hamilton 
to Carleton, June 26, 1777: Haldimand MSS.) 

"I must inform you that the roof of the house of 
the fort, which is of shingles, is entirely rotten, being 
made twenty-five years ago, and that it rains in every 
where, although I am continually patching it up. If 
there is much longer delay in putting on a new roof, 
a house which cost more than forty thousand piasters 
to the Jesuits will be lost." (Rocheblave to Carleton, 
February 18, 1778.) 

Subsequently to the captain of Fort Gage — that is 
in June, 1779 — De Peyster at Michilimackinac, wrote; 

"The Kaskaskias no ways fortified ; the fort being 
still a sorry picketted enclosure round the Jesuits' col- 
lege." 

The words of Clark that he "broke into the fort," 
make it certain that some obstacle was overcome in 
getting inside; — that he did not enter "by a western 
gate that had been left open," as stated by Mann Butler 
in his "Valley of the Ohio." in The Western Journal, 
vol. XII, p. 167. And in his History of Kentucky, 
(p. 53), Butler also says: 

"The fort was taken ; Clark entered it by *a postern 
gate left open on the river side of the fortification,' 
which was 'shown by a hunting soldier, who had been 
taken prisoner the evening before.' (Judge David 
Todd, of Missouri, obligingly communicated this cii- 
cumstance from the papers of the late General Levi 
Todd, who acted as aid to Colonel Clark." 

Upon this subject, Bowman, in his letter to Hite, 
is silent. He only says : "About midnight we marched 
into the town without being discovered ; our object was 



606 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

the fort, which we soon got possession of." — Almon's 
Remembrancer (1779), vol. VIII, p. 82. 

The honor of being the first one of Clark's men to 
enter the fort is claimed for John Todd : 

'The foHowing year [1778] he [Todd] accom- 
panied George Rogers Clark in his expedition to the 
Illinois and was the first man to enter Fort Gage at 
Kaskaskia when it was taken from the British." . . . 
[Mason's Illinois in the Eighteenth Century, p. 51. 
See likewise, Davidson and Struve's Illinois, p. 202]. 
Compare, also, that writer's article in Magazine of 
American History, vol. VIII, p. 587 and his Early 
Chicago and Illinois, p. 286, already referred to. (But 
whether John Todd was in the army at all, doing ser- 
vice under Clark, will hereafter be considered.) 

Some Western writers have asserted that, at its 
capture, Fort Gage was occupied by a considerable 
force and that all, with Rocheblave, were made prison- 
ers ; but this is error. 

In the Magazine of Western History, vol. II, p. 
144, Mary Cone, in her article on the "Expedition and 
Conquest of George Rogers Clarke" says that *'the 
garrison was well prepared for resistance." This is 
successfully criticised by John Moses in the same peri- 
odical (vol. iii, p. 269) : "There was no garrison to 
speak of there." What the first mentioned writer 
says, is this: "The garrison was well prepared for 
resistance, and but for the suddenness and unexpected- 
ness of the attack together with their ignorance in re- 
gard to the very small number of the attacking force, 
the taking of the fort would apparently have been im- 
possible." But, from what is known of Clark's subse- 
quent valor and of that of his men, under conditions 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 60? 

similar to what would have existed had his coming 
been known to Rocheblave, it is not very apparent that 
he would not have captured the fort. 

Tradition has erroneously given Simon Kenton 
credit for leading a detachment into the fort and cap- 
turing Rocheblave. The substance of this tradition is 
that Colonel Clark, leading his column, was conducted 
silently by a guide he had captured, through a postern 
gate into the open fort, and while with his sturdy 
warriors he surrounded the sleeping garrison and con- 
trolled the defenses of the post, the fearless Simon 
Kenton at the head of a file of men, advanced softly 
to the apartment of the commander. While quietly 
reposing by his wife, lie was aroused by a gentle 
touch, only to behold his own captivity, and to order 
the unconditional surrender of the fort and its defend- 
ers. (See for this fiction and more, Hall's Sketches 
of the West, vol. II, pp. ii8, 119; Butler's Kentucky, 
p. 53; Monnette's History of the Mississippi Valley^ 
vol. I, p. 418 ; Magazine of Western History, vol. Ill, 
p. 269.) 

That Kenton was the first man to enter Fort Gage 
is not impossible, though improbable ; and it is certain 
he did not lead any detachment against the fort. 
Clark's own words show the fallacy of that assertion : 
"With the other [division] / broke into the fort [the 
italicising is mine]". 

Another version of the tradition is, that a Pennsyl- 
vanian had just been captured in one of the houses, 
"who entertained but little affection for the English 
name" and who cheerfully acted as guide to Kenton's 
detachment. But it is clear no house in Kaskaskia 
was entered before Clark "broke into the fort.'* 



608 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

One among the earliest of Illinois historians helps 
to perpetuate the Kenton error : 

"Simon Kenton was with Colonel Clark in the cam- 
paign of 1778 to Kaskaskia and headed a party on the 
night of the 4th of July of that year, who entered 
Fort Gage and captured Lieut.-Governor Rocheblave 
in his bed." [Reynolds, Pioneer History of Illinois 
(ed. of 1887), p. 87.] 

But this is not all the fiction that has found its way 
into print concerning incidents said to have transpired 
at the time Clark captured Fort Gage. We quote: 

"The night on which his [Clark's] little party from 
Kentucky reached the Kaskaskia river at Menard's 
Gap, they saw, on the opposite bank, the Jesuits' sem- 
inary lighted up, and heard issuing from it the sounds 
of the violin. Clark, leaving his horses and most of 
his men on the eastern side, waded across at the warm 
ford. It was a ball given by the British officers to 
the French inhabitants. He placed one of his men 
quietly at each door, ouside, with orders to let none 
pass. He himself, wrapped in his blanket capot, his 
arms folded, leaning against the door-cheek, looked 
in upon the dance. An Indian who lay on the floor 
of the entry, intently gazing at his features in the light 
reflected from the room, suddenly sprang to his feet 
and gave the war-whoop. The dancing ceased, the 
ladies screamed, and the Frenchmen rushed to the door. 
Clark, without moving from his position, or changing 
his grave expression, desired them to go on with the 
dance. 'The only difference is', said he, ^ou now 
dance under Virginia, instead of Great Britain.' At 
day-light he and his mounted men were opposite to 
Fort Chartres, on the crest of the bluff, and by march- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 609 

ing along its profile so as to be seen from the fort, 
countermarching out of sight and again showing them- 
selves in a continuous file, his force appeared so large 
that the much more numerous enemy capitulated with- 
out a shot." From a Memoir of Ehenezer Denny, by 
William H. Denny, prefixed to the Military Journal 
of the former, in the Memoirs of the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania, vol. VII, pp. 217, 218.) 
That this ridiculous story should have been inspired 
by Clark himself would indeed be beyond belief were 
it not that there is sufficient reason showing such to be 
the fact. (See Note CIA of this Appendix, third 
paragraph.) 

That the Colonel crossed the Kaskaskia river be- 
fore reaching the fort — "the Jesuits' seminary," is 
the only reliable statement in the whole story. 

A recent writer in combining a small portion of 
the Kenton fiction with a large part of the erroneous 
relation last given, says : 

"Inside the fort the lights were lit, and through 
the windows came the sounds of violins. The officers 
of the post had given a ball, and the mirth-loving 
Creoles, young men and girls, were dancing and revell- 
ing within, while the sentinels had left their posts. 
One of his captives showed Clark a postern gate by 
the river-side, and through this he entered the fort, 
having placed his men round about at the entrance. 
Advancing to the great hall where the revel was held, 
he leaned silently with folded arms against the door- • 
post, looking at the dancers. An Indian, lying on the 
floor of the entry, gazed intently on the stranger's face 
as the light from the torches within flickered across 
it, and suddenly sprang to his feet uttering the un- 

39 



610 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

earthly war-whoop. Instantly the dancing ceased ; the 
women screamed, while the men ran towards the door. 
But Clark, standing unmoved and with unchanged 
face, grimly bade them continue their dancing, but to 
remember that they now danced under Virginia and 
not Great Britain. At the same time his men burst 
into the fort, and seized the French officers, including 
the commandant, Rocheblave." (Roosevelt: The Win- 
ing of the West, vol. II, pp. 45, 46.) That writer, 
after giving as fact what is quoted above (which is as 
we see, not a small part of the story), says in a foot- 
note : "The story was told to Major Denny by Clark 
himself, some time in '87 or '88 [it was in 1785] ; in 
process of repetition it evidently became twisted, and, 
as related by Denny, there are some very manifest in- 
accuracies, but there seems no reason to reject it en- 
tirely." By a careful comparison of the relation as 
first published with Roosevelt, some additional rhet- 
orical "twists" will readily be discovered. Under the 
Roosevelt version, the lights are "torches" ; the dancers 
are restricted to "the mirth-loving Creoles, young men 
and girls ;" a "great hall" is introduced "where the 
revel was held"; the Indian war-whoop becomes (as 
well it might! (an "unearthly" one; and Clark's desire 
to have the dance continued is now a command — 
"grimly bade them continue their dancing." "At the 
same time," Clark's "men burst into the fort, and seized 
the French officers, including the commandant, Roche- 
blave" — which last relation Roosevelt does not credit 
Denny with, but gives it as his own — a "twist" nearly 
equal to any given by the Major. 

Butler, in his History of Kentucky (p. 53), errone- 
ously declares that the public papers in th^ fort were 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 611 

not captured, out of delicacy to the wife of the com- 
mander, she "presuming a good deal on the gallantry 
of our countrymen by imposing upon their delicacy 
towards herself". . . . "Better, ten thousand times 
better," Butler adds, "were it so, than that the ancient 
fame of the sons of Virginia should have been tarn- 
ished by insult to a female." 

And Reynolds {Pioneer History of Illinois, 2d ed. 
p, 95) says: "the gentlemanly bearing of Col. Clark 
made him respect female prerogative, and the ladv 
[Mrs. Rocheblave] secured the [public] papers in that 
adroit manner peculiar to female sagacity." 

In another history of that state, the men who cap- 
tured Rocheblave — "the British governor" — are men- 
tioned as "Kentuckians" ; and it is asserted they cap- 
tured a few of his public papers only, "as they were 
secreted or destroyed by his wife, whom the Kentuck- 
ians w^ere too polite to molest." [Collins's Kentucky 
(ed. of 1877) p. 137.] But Bowman declares all were 
secured by Clark; and such undoubtedly was the fact, 
still, we will add what Coleman says {Harper's Maga- 
zine, vol. XXII, p. 791 ) : "There were important papers 
in this gentlemen's [Rocheblave's] possession which 
Clark was anxious to obtain ; but Madame Rocheblane 
[Rocheblave] resolutely seated herself upon the chest 
that contained them in order to prevent a search; in 
which she was more successful than the Queen of 
Poland, who tried the same maneuvre with Frederick 
the Great, when that ungallant monarch captured 
Dresden. But Clark had not got rid of his American 
respect for the sex." 

Much has been written concerning the taking of 
Kaskaskia. One writer says : 



612 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"But, although the town was taken, the work was 
hardly begun. The object was to act on the minds 
of the mhabitants. For this purpose, not force, but 
judgment and tact were necessary. . . . Let us 
imagine then the situation of this ancient place, 
which contained about two hundred and fifty houses, 
and had stood for a century and a half in the midst 
of a blooming" prairie, its simple and peaceful French 
inhabitants dealing only with the Indians and the pres- 
ent generation of them almost ignorant of any other 
race. Taught to regard the Americans as monsters 
of cruelty, they found their town suddenly fallen into 
their hands. Gloom and fear dwelt visibly on the 
faces of all. To increase this feeling, Clark com- 
manded ail intercourse among the inhabitants and be- 
tween them and the soldiers to cease." [The North 
American Review, vol. XLIII (July, 1836), pp. 15, 

16.] 

In this there are two important errors to be noticed : 
(i) Kaskaskia ''had stood" not "a century and a half," 
but a little over three-quarters of a century. (2) 
Clark ordered the inhabitants "on pain of death," as 
he says ( Clark to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the 
Illinois, p. 31) "to keep close to their houses"; and in 
his Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 125 
— he states : "the men of each detachment who could 
speak the French language, were to run through every 
street and proclaim what had happened, and inform 
the inhabitants that every person who appeared in the 
streets would be shot dowm." The conclusion is drawn 
from these last words by the reviewer, that Clark .com- 
manded all intercourse among the inhabitants and be- 
tween them and the soldiers to cease." But the state- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 613 

ment is based on a previous one given by Butler in his 
Kentucky; and it may here be stated that all other 
matters given by the former in the same relation have 
a foundation in the same history, of which that article 
is a review. 

What Clark really says in his Memoir (pp. 124, 
125 of Dillon's Indiana) is this: 

"With one of the divisions, I marched to the fort, 
and ordered the other two [one] into different quar- 
ters of the town. If I met with no resistance, at a 
certain signal a general shout was to be given, and 
certain parts [of the town] were to be immediately 
possessed ; and the men of each detachment who could 
speak the French language, were to run through every 
street and proclaim what had happened, and inform 
the inhabitants that every person who appeared in the 
streets would be shot down. This disposition had its 
desired effect. In a very little time we had complete 
possession ; and every avenue was guarded, to prevent 
any escape, to give the alarm to the other villages in 
case of opposition. Various orders had been issued 
not worth mentioning. I don't suppose greater silence 
ever reigned among the inhabitants of a place than 
did at this at present: not a person to be seen, not a 
word to be heard from them for some time; but de- 
signedly the greatest noise kept up by our troops 
through every quarter of the town, and patrols con- 
tinually the whole night round it ; as intercepting any 
information was a capital object; and in about two 
hours the whole of the inhabitants were disarmed, and 
informed that if one was taken attempting to make 
his escape he should be immediately put to death." 



614 HISTORY OF CLARK'S COlSlQUEST, ETC. 

Coleman {Harper's Magazine, vol XXII, p. 791) 
says, concerning the effect produced upon the Kas- 
kaskians by the "horrid uproar" of Clark's men: "He 
[Clark] ordered his men to patrol the streets during 
the whole night with whoops and yells, while the in- 
habitants remained with closed doors, listening shud- 
deringly to the horrid uproar ; expecting every instant 
to hear the shrieks and groans of their kindred and 
friends announcing the commencing of a general 
massacre." 

"In his 'Memoir' Clark dwells at length," says 
Roosevelt (The Winning of the West, vol. II, p. 47n) 
"on the artifices by which he heightened the terror of 
the French; and Butler [in his Kentucky, pp. 54, 55] 
enlarges still farther upon them. I follow the letter 
to Mason [Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 31], 
which is much safer authority, the writer [Clark] 
having then no thought of trying to increase the dra- 
matic effect of the situation — which in Butler, and 
indeed in the 'Memoir' also, is strained till it comes 
dangerously near bathos." 

Just how closely Roosevelt follows Clark to Mason 
the following comparison will show : 

(I.) Clark to Mason {Clark's Campaign in the 
Illinois, p. 31 : "In fifteen minutes, I had every street 
secured, [I] sent runners through the town ordering 
the people on pain of death to keep close to their 
houses, which they observed, and before day light [I] 
had the whole town disarmed. Nothing could excel 
the confusion these people seemed to be in, being 
[having been] taught to expect nothing but savage 
treatment from the Americans." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 615 

(11.) Roosevelt {The Winning of the West, vol. 
II, pp. 46, 47) : "Immediately Clark had every street 
secured, and sent runnners through the town order- 
ing the people to keep close to their houses on pain of 
death ; and by daylight he had them all disarmed. The 
backwoodsmen patrolled the town in little squads; 
while the French in silent terror cowered within their 
low-roofed houses. Clark was quite willing that they 
should fear the worst ; and their panic was very great. 
The tmlooked-for and mysterious approach and sudden 
onslaught of the backwoodsmen, their wild and un- 
couth appearance, and the ominous silence of their 
commander, all combined to fill the French with fear- 
ful forbodings for their future fate." 



NOTE XLIX. 



WHAT CLARK (ACCORDING TO HIS MEMOIR) SAID TO 

THE KASKASKIAN DEPUTIES ON BEING SENT FOR 

BY HIM. 

The priest [Gibault] accompanied by several gen- 
tlemen waited on Colonel Clark, and expressed in the 
name of the village their thanks for the indulgence 
they had received. They were sensible that their 
present situation was the fate of war and that they 
could submit to the loss of their property, but they 
solicited that they might not be separated from their 
wives and children, and that some clothes and pro- 
visions might be allowed for their support. Clark 
feigned surprise at this request, and almost exclaimed : 



616 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

''Do you mistake us for savages ? I am almost certain 
you do from your language ! Do you think the Ameri- 
cans intend to strip women and children, or take the 
bread out of their mouths?" ''My countrymen," said 
Clark, "disdain to make war upon helpless innocence. 
It was to prevent the horrors of Indian butchery upon 
our own wives and children that we have taken arms 
and penetrated into this remote stronghold of British 
and Indian barbarity, and not the despicable prospect 
of plunder." That now the King of France had united 
his powerful arms with those of America, the war 
would not, in all probability continue long; but the 
inhabitants of Kaskaskia were at liberty to take which 
side they pleased, without the least danger to either 
their property or families. Nor would their reHgion 
be any source of disagreement, as all religions were 
regarded with equal respect in the eye of the Ameri- 
can law, and that any insult offered it would be im- 
mediately punished. "And now, to prove my sincerity, 
you will please inform your fellow-citizens that they 
are quite at liberty to conduct themselves as usual with- 
out the least apprehension. I am nov/ convinced from- 
what I have learned since my arrival among you that 
you have been misinformed and prejudiced against us 
by the British officers ; and your friends who are in 
confinement shall immediately be released." 

In a few minutes after the delivery of this speech, 
the gloom that rested on the minds of the inhabitants 
had passed away. The agitation and joy of the vil- 
lage seniors, upon hearing what Clark had said may 
well be conceived; they attempted some apology for 
the implied imputation of barbarians, under the belief 
that the property of a captured town belonged to the 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 617 

conquerors; Clark gently dispensed with this explan- 
ation and desired them to relieve the anxieties of the 
inhabitants immediately, requiring them to comply 
strictly with the terms of a proclamation which he 
would shortly publish. The contrast of feeling among 
the people upon learning these generous and magnani- 
mous intentions of their conquerors, verified the saga- 
cious anticipations of Clark. In a few moments, the 
mortal dejection of the village was converted into the 
most extravagant joy; the bells were set a ringing, 
and the church was crowded with the people offering 
up thanks to Almighty God for their deliverance from 
the horrors they had so fearfully expected. Perfect 
freedom was now given to the inhabitants to go oi 
come as they pleased, so confident were our country- 
men that whatever report might be made [it] would 
be to the credit and success of the American arms. 
(Butler's Kentucky, pp. 55-57; Dillon's Indiana, pp. 
125-127.) 



NOTE L. 



AS TO THE WINNING OF VINCENNES TO AMERICAN IN- 
TERESTS BY FATHER GIBAULT. ALSO CONCERNING 

SIMON KENTON ACTING AS A SPY FOR CLARK. 

As the jurisdiction of Father Gibault in spiritual 
matters extended not only over the several villages in 
the Illinois country but over Vinccnnes as well, he had 
of course considerable influence with his Creoles of the 
last mentioned town. "I sent for him," are Clark's 
words in his Memoirs, "and had a long conference 
with him on the subject of Vincennes." "In answer 



618 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

to all my queries," continues Clark, ''he informed me 
he did not think it worth my while to cause any mili- 
tary preparation to be made at the Falls for the attack 
of Vincennes, although the place was strong and [there 
was] a great number of Indians in its neighborhood, 
who, to his knowledge were generally at war; that 
Governor Abbott had a few weeks before left the place, 
on some business, for Detroit; and that he [Gibault] 
expected that, when the inhabitants there were fully 
acquainted with what had passed at Illinois and had 
been made fully acquainted with the nature of the war, 
that their sentiments would greatly change." 

Gibault then suggested to Clark that he believed 
his (Gibault's) appearance at Vincennes would have 
great weight even with the savages in changing their 
sentiments ; that if it was agreeable to the commander 
he would take this business on himself ; that he had no 
doubt of his being able to bring the place over to the 
American interest without Clark being at the trouble 
to march against it ; and that his work being spiritual, 
he wished that another person might be charged with 
the temporal part of the embassy but that he would 
privately direct the whole. 

It has frequently been published that Clark sent 
for Gibault to go to Vincennes to win the people there 
to the American cause. But this, evidently, is error. 

''The post of St. Vincent's [Vincennes] lay no 
great distance off between his [Clark's] present posi- 
tion and Kentucky and garrisoned by a force superior 
to any which Clark could possibly bring against it. 
Policy, therefore, and not force must again be resorted 
to." — The North American Review, vol. XLIII (July, 
1836),- p. 17. The use of the word "again" here implies 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 619 

that policy and not force had only been resorted to in 
securing possession of the Illinois; which, of course, 
is erroneous. The force in Vincennes to guard the 
place was, as we have seen, three militia companies. 

Clark, in his account detailed in his Memoir, giv- 
ing what took place immediately after Vincennes had 
declared for America, evidently draws largely upon his 
imagination: 'The people here [at Vincennes] imme- 
diately began to put on a new face, and to talk in a 
different style, and to act as perfect freemen. With 
a garrison of their own, with the United States at their 
elbow, their language to the Indians was immediately 
altered. They began as citizens of the United States, 
and informed the Indians that their old father, the king 
of France, was come to life again, and was mad at 
them for fighting for the English, that they would 
advise them to make peace with the Americans as soon 
as they could, otherwise they might expect the land to 
be very bloody. . . . The Indians began to think 
seriously." 

Clark speaks of the disaffected in Vincennes as 
being "emissaries" of Abbott; but this is misleading. 
It is evident they were only traders. Some writers 
have gone so far as to declare they were British sol- 
diers, which is certainly error. 

Mr. Moses {Illinois, Historical and Statistical, 
vol. I, p. 153) says: "Post Vincennes" was "called by 
the British Fort Sackville." But it was simply the for- 
tification that was thus known. The village and the 
fort were called "Post Vincennes" — "Post St. Vin- 
cents" — "the Post—" "St. Vincents" — or, "Vin- 
cennes" as now known. 



620 HIStORV OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Much error has been printed in the histories of the 
West concerning Simon Kenton's return from the Illi- 
nois : "After the fall of Kaskaskia," says one account, 
"he [Kenton] was sent with a small party to Ken- 
tucky with dispatches. On their way, they fell in with 
a camp of Indians, in whose possession was a number 
of horses, which they took and sent back to the army 
[i. e., to Clark's army]. Pursuing their way by Vin- 
cennes, they entered the place by night, traversed sev- 
eral of the streets, and departed without being discov- 
ered, taking from the inhabitants, who were hostile, two 
horses for each man. When they came to White river, 
a raft was made, on which to transport the guns and 
baggage, while the horses were driven in to swim 
across the river. On the opposite shore, a party ol 
Indians were encamped, who caught the horses as they 
ascended the bank. Such are the vicissitudes of bor- 
der incident ! The same horses that had been auda- 
ciously taken, only the night before, from the interior 
of a regularly garrisoned town, were lost, by being 
accidentally driven by the captors into a camp of the 
enemy. Kenton and his party, finding themselves in 
the utmost danger, returned to the shore from which 
they had pushed their raft, and concealed themselves 
until night, when they crossed the river at a different 
place, and reached Kentucky in safety." (Hall's Ro- 
mance of Western History, pp. 300, 301.) 

Other printed statements vary this in some par- 
ticulars : "No sooner had the Illinois posts and coun- 
try been subdued and quietly occupied by the Vir- 
ginians, than Kenton, seeking more active adventures 
in Kentucky, was made the bearer of dispatches to 
Colonel Bow^man at Harrodsburg, and undertook, in 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 621 

his route thither, to reconnoiter the British post at 
Vincennes, on the Wabash, in order to furnish Col- 
onel Clark with correct information of its condition, 
force and the feelings of the people. At Vincennes, 
after lying concealed by day and reconnoitering by 
night for three days and nights, he transmitted to Col- 
onel Clark the true state of the post, informing him 
of its weakness and the disaffection of the people. 
Thirteen days after his departure from Vincennes, he 
arrived in Harrodsburg and delivered his dispatches 
safe to Colonel Bowman." [Monnette's History of the 
Valley of the Mississippi, vol. II, pp. 66, 6y ; — Mc- 
Donald's Sketches, p. 220.) 

Another writes gives these particulars : 
'Tlis [Kenton's] active and enterprising spirit 
had induced him to join Colonel George Rogers Clark 
and [he] was with him at the capture of Kaskaskia. 
After the fall of that place Butler [Kenton] with others 
was sent to Kentucky with dispatches ; on their way 
they fell in with a camp of Indians with horses ; they 
broke up the camp, took the horses, sent them back 
to Kaskaskias, and pursued their route by post St. Vin- 
cennes. Entering that place by night, they traversed 
several streets and departed without discovery or alarm 
after taking from the inhabitants who were hostile two 
horses for each man. When they came to White river 
a raft was made on which to transport the guns and 
baggage, while the horses were driven in to swim 
across the river. On the opposite shore there lay a 
camp of Indians who caught the horses as they rose 
the bank. 

''Butler [Kenton] and his party now finding them- 
selves in the utmost danger permitted the raft to float 



622 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

down stream and concealed themselves till night, when 
they made another raft at a different place on which 
they crossed the river ; returned safe to Kentucky and 
delivered the letters as they had been directed ; some of 
them were intended for the seat of Government [of 
Virginia.]'' (]\Iarshairs Kentucky, vol. I, p. 74.) 

"After the conquest of Kaskaskia, Col. Clark sent 
Kenton with dispatches to the 'Falls,' and to pass by 
Vincennes in his route. Kenton lay concealed during 
the day for three days, and reconnoitered the village 
of Vincennes during the nights. He acquitted himself 
as usual in this service to the satisfaction of his general. 
He employed a trusty messenger to convey the intelli- 
gence of the feelings, numbers, etc., of the people of 
Vincennes to Col. Clark at Kaskaskia." [Reynolds: 
TJie Pioneer History of Illinois (ed. of 1887), p. 87. 
Compare Collins's Kentucky (ed. of 1877), p. 446.] 
Says a writer in Harper's Magazine (vol. XXVHI, 
p. 302) : "Kenton acted as guide to Clark on his fa- 
mous expedition into the Ilinois and was sent back by 
him with dispatches of great importance; on which 
occasion he passed through the town of Vincennes 
(then garrisoned by the enemy) in the night, examined 
minutely its condition, sent back to Clark the informa- 
tion thus gained, by a companion, stole a horse, and 
made his way alone to the Falls [of the Ohio]," 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 623 



NOTE LL 

FICTION CONCERNING AN ATTACK MEDITATED AGAINST 
KENTUCKY FROM THE BRITISH POSTS NORTHWEST 
OF THE OHIO river! 

Concerning the securing by Clark of the people 
of Vincennes in the interest of the Americans a mod- 
ern writer says : 

"But a more serious trouble now [that is, after 
Capt. Bowman had taken possession of Cahokia] began 
to weigh heavily upon Clark's mind. He had barely 
made himself master of Kaskaskia before he learned 
how very timely his bold enterprise had been. For he 
was informed by the people that the British Governor 
of these posts [Rocheblave, whose true name was un- 
known to this writer] was actively engaged in organ- 
izing an expedition against Kentucky, backed by the 
whole power of the Indian tribes residing between the 
Ohio, the Mississippi and the lakes. The expedition 
was to move simultaneously from Detroit and Kas- 
kaskia — one party entering Kentucky by way of the 
falls of the former river [Ohio, now Louisville] while 
the other made its way down the Great Miami and up 
the Licking; both being furnished with field artillery. 
This expedition, which had been anticipated by the 
promptness of Clark's own attack, was to have set 
out in the following spring — of 1779 — and Governor 
Abbott [of Vincennes] straining every resource to 
complete its organization, had proceeded, a few days 
before the arrival of the Americans, from Vincennes 
to Detroit in order to attend to the equipment of the 
regulars and Canadian yolunteers destined to co-oper- 



624 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

ate with the savage host in this grand movement, leav- 
ing the latter place, with all the artillery and stores 
there collected, under the care of the local militia. It 
was absolutely necessary for Clark to gain possession 
of this place [Vincennes] ; for he could not permit so 
strong a post within striking distance of his present 
position to remain in the enemy's hands. Besides, the 
possession of these very stores and guns had been 
specified in his instructions as one of the great results 
expected from the enterprise. 

[It was the stores and guns at Kaskaskia, not Vin- 
cennes, that were hoped for, in the instructions given 
by Governor Henry to Clark.] 

''But how was it to be done? After the detach- 
ment under Bowman was made [to go to Cahokiaj, 
he [Clark] had remaining with him less than one hun- 
dred and fifty men. He dared not make any further 
division of this small force, lest it should be cut off in 
detail by the savages, large parties of whom were hov- 
ering around him at a distance. [But there were no 
Indians hovering around Clark at this time.] While 
meditating on his desperate situation the good priest 
Gibault happened to pay him a visit, and being made 
acquainted with his perplexity, at once volunteered 
to relieve him of it by going to the people of Vin- 
cennes, who were also under his pastoral charge, and 
inducing them, like their neighbors of Kaskaskia and 
Cahokia, to throw off the English yoke, and accept the 
protection of Virginia. The result justified his confi- 
dence. The people eagerly complied with his advice, 
and in an hour the English flag was hauled down and 
the stars and stripes run up over the fort, much to the 
amazement of the Indians, who were assembled around 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 625 

the place in great numbers." (Coleman, in Harper's 
Magazine, vol. XXII, p. 792.) 

That Rocheblave had taken any steps towards 
"organizing an expedition against Kentucky" previous 
to Clark's arrival at Kaskaskia is error; neither had 
Lieutenant Governor Abbott at Vincennes exerted him- 
self in any manner to forward such a movement; nor 
was his return to Detroit in any wise to aid such an 
undertaking ; and for the best of reasons : no such en- 
terprise was in contemplation (much less in actual 
preparation) either at Kaskaskia, Vincennes or De- 
troit. What, as will hereafter be seen, was, at one 
time, subsequently, much desired (and possibly, 
suggested) by Hamilton is made to travel backwards, 
forming a story wholly without foundation. And it 
is substantially the same fiction that some writers have 
asserted as fact, and that the information was brought 
to Clark by the two "spies" sent by him to the Illinois 
in the year 1777. 



NOTE LIL 

AS TO M. CERRE AND HIS TREATMENT BY CLARK. 

Mann Butler, in his History of Kentucky, says : 
"During the night [of the capture of Kaskaskia] 
several persons were sent for to obtain intelligence; 
but little information could be procured beyond what 
had already been received except that a considerable 
body of Indians lay at this time in the neighborhood 
of Cahokia, about sixty miles higher up the Missis- 
sippi ; and that M. Cerre (the father of the present 
Madame Auguste Chouteau) of St. Louis, the princi- 
40 



626 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

pal merchant of Kaskaskia, was at that time one of the 
most inveterate enemies of the Americans. This gen- 
tleman had left town before Clark had captured it, and 
was now in St. Louis on his way to Quebec whence he 
had lately returned, in the prosecution of extensive 
commercial operations ; his family and an extensive 
assortment of merchandise were in Kaskaskia. By 
means of these pledges in his power, Colonel Clark 
thought to operate upon M. Cerre, whose influence was 
of the utmost consequence in the condition of Ameri- 
can interest, if it could be brought to be exerted in its 
favor. With the view of gaining this gentleman, a 
guard was immediately placed around his house and 
seals placed on his property as well as on all the other 
merchandise in the place [pp. 53, 54]." 

And the author also says : 

"About this time, M. Cerre . . . uneasy that 
his family at Kaskaskia should be the only one placed 
under guard and fearful of venturing into the power 
of the American officer without a safe conduct, pro- 
cured the recommendation of the Spanish Governor at 
St. Louis, as well as [that of] the commandant at Ste. 
Genevieve, supported by the influence of the greater 
part of the citizens, for the purpose of obtaining this 
security. It was all in vain ; Colonel Clark peremp- 
torily refused it ; and intimated that he wished to hear 
no more such applications ; that he understood M. 
Cerre was 'a sensible man' and if he was innocent of 
the charge of inciting the Indians against the Ameri- 
cans, he need not be afraid of delivering himself, 
up. This backwardness would only increase the sus- 
picion against him. Shortly after this expression of 
Clark's sentiments, M. Cerre, to whom they were no 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 627 

doubt communicated, repaired to Kaskaskia and with- 
out visiting his family, immediately waited on Colonel 
Clark, who informed him that the crime with which 
he stood charged was [that of] encouraging the Indi- 
ans in their murders and devastations on our frontiers. 
An enormity, whose perpetrators, continued the Amer- 
ican commander, it behooved every civilized people to 
punish whenever they got such violators of the laws of 
honorable warfare within their power. To this accu- 
sation, M. Cerre frankly replied that he was a mere 
merchant, and had never been concerned in affairs of 
state beyond what the interests of his business re- 
quired ; moreover, his remote position had prevented 
him from understanding the merits of the war now 
raging between the United States and Great Britain. 
He defied, he said, any man to prove that he had en- 
couraged the Indian barbarities, while many could be 
produced who had heard him express his disapproba- 
tion of all such cruelties ; though, at the same time, it 
was necessary to inform Colonel Clark that there were 
numbers indebted to him, who might by his ruin seek 
to discharge their pecuniary obligations to him. In 
fine, this eminent French merchant declared his willing- 
ness to support the strictest inquiry into the only hein- 
ous charge against him. This was every thing the 
American ofiicer required ; he desired M. Cerre to re- 
tire into another room while he sent for his accusers : 
they immediately attended followed by the greater part 
of the inhabitants. M. Cerre was summoned to con- 
front them ; the former immediately shewed their con- 
fusion at his appearance ; the parties were told by Col- 
onel Clark that he had no disposition to condemn a 
man unheard ; that M. Cerre was now present, and he 



628 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

(Clark) was ready to do justice to the civilized world 
by punishing him if guilty of inciting the Indians to 
commit their enormities on helpless women and chil- 
dren. The accusers began to whisper to one another 
and retire ; until but one was left of six or seven at 
first ; this person was asked for his proof, but he had 
none to produce, and M. Cerre was honorably acquitted, 
not more to his own satisfaction than to that of his 
neighbors and friends. He was then congratulated by 
Colonel Clark upon his acquittal and informed that, 
although his becoming an American citizen would be 
highly acceptable, yet if he did not sincerely wish to do 
so, he was perfectly at liberty to dispose of his property 
and to remove elsewhere. Cerre, delighted at the fair 
and generous treatment he had met with, immediately 
took the oath of allegiance and became a 'most valua- 
ble' friend to the American cause [pp. 59-61]." 



NOTE LIIL 



BOWMAN S LETTER TO HITE. ROCHEBLAVE SENT A 

PRISONER OF WAR TO WILLIAMSBURG. 

In Bowman's letter to Hite, the Captain says, after 
mentioning that Rocheblave was made prisoner when 
the fort at Kaskaskia was taken, — "and [he, Roche- 
blave,] is now [July 30, 1778 — the date of his letter] 
on his way to Williamsburg under strong guard." But, 
as this was written at Cahokia, it is not surprising that 
the writer of the letter made a mistake ; as he doubtless 
had been informed that the prisoner would start on 
before that day, — when, as a matter of fact he was 
still in his prison. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 629 

As Bowman entrusted his letter to his brother, 
who was one of Clark's soldiers who concluded to re- 
turn at the expiration of his enlistment, it is probable 
it was sent off from Cahokia the day it was written. 

The letter, as printed, has this heading: "Balti- 
more, Dec. 29, [1778]. Copy of a letter from Capt. 
Joseph Bowman, at a place called Illinois Kaskaskias, 
upon the Mississippi, to his friend. Col. Joseph Hite, 
of Frederick county, Virginia, dated July 30, 1778." 

That the letter was written at Cahokia, its con- 
tents clearly disclose. The Captain, after mentioning 
the circumstance that there were three hundred at that 
village who had taken the oath of allegiance, adds : — 
''and now [these inhabitants] appear much attached to 
our cause. But as this is in so remote a part of the 
country [of the Illinois] and [as] the Indians [are] 
meeting with daily supplies from the British officers, 
who offer them large bounties for our scalps [but in 
this he was in error], / think it prudent to leave a 
guard here." [The italicising is mine.] 

And thus the Captain begins his letter: "I em- 
brace this opportunity to give you some information of 
our proceedings since our embarkation from Mononga- 
hela till our arrival at this place.'' (The italicising in 
this extract also is mine.) 

Now, as the last "proceedings" he mentions were 
at Cahokia, — it will be seen that "at this place" must 
refer to that village. 

"Being anxious," concludes Bowman, "to do 
everything in my power for my country in order to es- 
tablish peace and harmony once more amongst us — - 
this will engage my attention the ensuing winter. 



630 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

''The inhabitants of this country upon the Missis- 
sippi have without any kind of doubt, influenced the 
several nations of Indians in this quarter, as also upon 
the Ohio; so that ere it be long, I flatter myself we 
shall put a stop to the career of those bloodthirsty sav- 
ages who glory in shedding the blood of the innocent. 

"For further particulars, I must refer you to my 
brother, the bearer hereof. And I am, etc., 

"Joseph Bowman."" 

It is a tradition (but an erroneous one) that Clark 
was at first inclined to treat Rocheblave leniently ; that 
he had, upon reflection, determined to give him back 
his slaves ; and that he invited his prisoner to dine 
with himself and officers, when he would take occasion 
to restore them to their owner; but that the violent 
and insulting language of the deposed Frenchman en- 
tirely frustrated the Colonel's benevolent design. This 
would be creditable to Clark's kindness of heart — if 
true. Kentucky historians have added to this account, 
in a way to make it more emphatic, but with the result 
of increasing its improbability. Butler {History of 
Kentucky, p. 64) says : 

"In regard to this officer [Rocheblave] who ex- 
pressed himself with great bitterness of the Americans 
and the natives who had sided with them, Colonel 
Clark exerted himself very much to procure a restor- 
ation to Mrs. Rocheblave, of his slaves, that had been 
seized as public plunder. This was attempted by in- 
viting him to a dinner with some of the officers as 
well as with his acquaintance [sic] where this restitu- 
tion was, it seems, to have been offered ; but it was 
entirely frustrated by the violent and insulting Ian- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 631 

g-uage of the former commandant ; he called them a 
parcel of rebels, and provoked such indignation that he 
was immediately sent to the guard house; all further 
thoughts of saving his slaves were now abandoned." 

"In 1778, when Colonel George Rogers Clark, and 
his Virginia militia, numbering less than two hundred 
men, achieved the bloodless conquest of the Illinois, 
not a single British soldier v/as found doing duty in 
the country, they having all been withdrawn to other 
and more important points. M. de Rocheblave was 
still in command for the English at Fort Gage; but, 
owing to his contumacious behavior, he was sent a 
prisoner of war to Virginia." . . . Wallace : The 
History of Illinois and Louisiana under the French 
Rule, (p. 402). 

But it is evident that Rocheblave's conduct had 
nothing to do with his being put in irons, with his 
slaves being finally disposed of, nor with his being 
sent a prisoner of v>^ar over the mountains. The same 
policy, as will hereafter be seen, was adopted by the 
American comimander in even a more notable instance, 
of sending dangerous prisoners to Williamsburg to be 
out of harm's way. It was, indeed, a policy that would 
naturally have recommended itself to Clark, however 
excellent might have been the behavior of the cap- 
tured. 

The confiscation of Rocheblave's private property 
was not approved of by Governor Henry ; and he sub- 
sequently issued orders that it must be restored to his 
wife, if possible ; but, if that could not be done, his 
family was to be supported at the public expense (Ma- 
son's Early Chicago and Illinois, p. 293.) 



632 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE LIV. 

CONSPIRACY OF A PARTY OF WINNEBAGOES AND OTHER 
INDIANS AT CAHOKIA TO CARRY OFF CLARK. 

Butler {History of Kentucky, pp. y2-y^) gives the 
following account of the conspiracy of the Winneba- 
goes and other Indians at Cahokia, to get possession 
of the person of Clark — declaring it was their inten- 
tion to kill him : 

"A party of Indians, composed of stragglers from 
various tribes, by the name of Meadow Indians, had 
accompanied the other tribes, and had been promised 
a great reward if they would kill Colonel Clark. For 
this purpose they had pitched their camp about a hun- 
dred yards from Clark's quarters, and about the same 
distance in front of the fort, on the same side of Ca- 
hokia creek with the one occupied by the Americans. 
This creek was about knee-deep at the time, and a plot 
was formed by some of the Indians to pass the creek 
after night, fire their guns in the direction of the In- 
dians on the other side of the creek, and then fly to 
Clark's quarters, where they were to seek admission 
under pretense of fleeing from their enemies, and put 
Colonel Clark and the garrison to death. About one 
o'clock in the morning while Colonel Clark was still 
awake with the multiplied cares of his extraordinary 
situation, the attempt was made ; and the flying party, 
having discharged their guns so as to throw suspicion 
upon the other Indians, came running to the American 
camp for protection, as they said, from their enemies, 
who had attacked them from across the creek. This, 
the guard, who proved to be in greater force than was 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 633 

anticipated, prevented by presenting their pieces at the 
fugitives, who were compelled to return to their own- 
camp . 

''The whole town and garrison were now under 
arms, and these Indians, whom the guard had recog- 
nized by moonlight, were sent for, and on being ex- 
amined, they declared it was their enemies who had 
fired upon them from across the creek, and that they 
had sought shelter among the ^\mericans. Some of the 
French gentlemen who knew these Indians better than 
the new conquerors, called for a Hght, and discovered 
their moccasins and leggings to be quite wet and 
muddy, from having passed the creek over to the 
friendly camps. This discovery quite confounded the 
assassins ; and, as there were a great many Indians of 
other tribes in the town, Clark thought the opportunity 
favorable to convince them of the closest union between 
the Americans and the French; he therefore surren- 
dered the culprits to the French, to do what they 
pleased with them. Secret instructions were, how- 
ever, given that the chiefs ought to be sent to the guard- 
house in irons; these directions were immediately ex- 
ecuted. 

"In this manacled condition they were brought 
every day into council, but not suffered to speak until 
all the other business was transacted, when Colonel 
Clark, ordered their irons to be taken off, and told 
them everybody said they ought to die for their treach- 
erous attempt upon his life, amidst the sacred deliber- 
ations of a council. He had determined to inflict death 
upon them for their base attempt, and they themselves 
must be sensible that they had justly forfeited their 
lives ; but, on considering the meanness of watching 



634 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

a bear and catching him asleep, he had found out that 
they were not warriors, only old women and too mean 
to be punished by the Big Knife. 'But, as you ought 
to be punished,' said he, 'for putting on breechcloth 
like men, they shall be taken away from you, plenty 
of provisions shall be given you for your journey home, 
as women don't know how to hunt, and during your 
stay you shall be treated in every respect as squaws.' 
Then, without taking any further notice of these 
offenders, Colonel Clark turned off and began to 
converse with other persons. 

"This treatment appeared to agitate the offending 
Indians to their very hearts. In a short time one of 
their chiefs arose with a pipe and belt of peace, which 
he offered to Clark, and made a speech ; but he 
[Clark] would not suffer it to be interpreted, and a 
sword lying on the table, he took it and indignantly 
broke the pipe which had been laid before him, declar- 
ing the Big Knife never treated with women. The 
offending tribe then appeared busy in conversation 
among themselves ; when suddenly two of their young 
men advanced into the midddle of the floor, sat down, 
and flung their blankets over their heads, to the aston- 
ishment of the whole assembly, when two chiefs arose, 
and, with a pipe of peace, stood by the side of these 
victims, and offered their lives to Colonel Clark as an 
atonement for the offense of the tribe. They hoped 
the sacrifice would appease the Big Knife, and they 
again offered the pipe. Clark would not yet admit a 
reconciliation with them, but directed them in a milder 
tone than before to be seated, for he would have noth- 
ing to say to them. After keeping them some time 
longer in suspense. Colonel Clark, deeply affected 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 635 

by the magnanimity of these rude sons of the forest, 
ordered the young men to rise and uncover themselves, 
said he was glad to find there were men in all nations, 
and through them granted peace to their tribe." 



NOTE LV. 

Clark's council with indian tribes at cahokia. 

According to Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana 
(ed. of 1859), pp- 131-135, at the commencement of the 
council a speech was made by an Indian chief and re- 
plied to the next day by Clark. On the third day a 
rejoinder by the Indian speaker was listened to. All 
these speeches were first copied by Butler from the 
Memoir of Clark before they were seen by Dillon. 
(See his History of Kentucky, pp. 68-71.) It is clear 
Ihat Clark draws largely upon his imagination in giv- 
ing so circumstantially these oratorical efforts, after 
many years had elapsed since their delivery. 

Dillon, in his Indiana (ed. of 1859, p. 135), says 
that Clark made peace, at Cahokia, with the Pianke- 
shaws, Weas, Kickapoos, Illinois, Kaskaskias, Peori- 
as, and branches of some other tribes that inhabited 
the country between Lake Michigan and the Missis- 
sippi. But the three tribes first named — the Wabash 
Indians — were not treated with at Cahokia ; and Clark 
had previously made peace with the Kaskaskias and 
Peorias. 

"Before the close of September," says Monnette 
{History of the Valley of the Mississippi, vol I, p. 
423), "Colonel Clark had commenced his negotiations 



636 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 

with the Indian tribes occupying the regions drained 
by the Ilhnois and Upper Mississippi rivers. BeHeving 
it impoHtic, and a mistaken estimate of Indian charac- 
ter, to invite them to treaties of peace and friendship, 
he lost no opportunity of impressing them with the 
power of the Americans and the high sense of honor 
which regulated all their military operations, no less 
than the unalterable determination to punish their ene- 
mies. Long acquainted with the Indian character, he 
maintained his dignified and stern reserve until they 
should ask for peace and treaties ; and he fought them 
fiercely until they did sue for peace/' (The italicising 
is mine). 

But Colonel Clark had no contest with Indians at 
this period ; he did not fight any — neither those whose 
homes were not far away nor those who had their vil- 
lages upon the Illinois and Upper Mississippi rivers, 
or elsewhere. The nearest approach to any hostilities 
was when some "Puans [Winnebagoes] and others" 
endeavored, at Cahokia, to carry off Clark, the latter 
making promises of the savages who engaged in the 
undertaking, putting. some of the greatest chiefs among 
them in irons, but soon releasing them, as already fully 
explained. 

" 'Domestic affairs,' says the Colonel [Clark], 'be- 
ing thus pretty well settled, the Indian department 
came next to be the object of my attention.' This, in- 
deed, was the most delicate and difficult portion of his 
task. To win the friendship, or at least secure the 
neutrality of the Indians was one of the primary ob- 
jects of the campaign. The Chippewas, Ottawas, Pot- 
tawattamies. Sacs, Foxes — in a word, nearly all the 
leading tribes of the West — were represented in the 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 637 

repeated conferences held between Col. Clark and the 
savages, delegations of braves in some instances trav- 
eling a distance of five hundred miles in order to be 
present." — John Moses, in Illinois: Historical and 
Statistical, vol. I, p. 153. But no nation east of the 
Wabash or Mawnee, in the West, was represented at 
any conference held by Clark. 

''Those nations who have treated with me have be- 
haved since very well, to-wit : the Piankeshaws, Kick- 
apoos, Weas, of the Wabash river; the Kaskaskias, 
Peorias, Mitchigamies, Foxes, Sacs, Opays, Illinois 
and Pones [Pottawattamies], nations of the Missis- 
sippi and Illinois rivers. Part of the Chippewas have 
also treated and are peaceable." — Clark to the Gov- 
ernor of Va., Apr. 29, 1779, from Kaskaskia. 

The list in Clark's letter to Mason {Clark's Cam- 
paign in the Illinois, p. 41) includes the Winnebagoes 
("Puans") and Miamis, also the Ottowas and one or 
two others — all treated with at Cahokia. 



NOTE LVI. 



CLARK^S INTERVIEW WITH THE CHIPPEWA CHIEF 
BLACKBIRD. 

Concerning Clark's interview with the Chippewa 
chief. Blackbird, Butler {History of Kentucky, pp. 75, 
77) says: 

"Colonel Clark now turned his attention to Sa- 
quina, or Blackbird, and Nakioun, two chiefs of the 
Sotairs [Chippewas] and Ottawa tribes bordering on 
Lake Michigan. The former of these chiefs had been 



638 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

in St. Louis, when Clark first invaded the country, and 
not trusting to Spanish protection, had returned to 
his tribe ; though he had sent a letter to Clark apologiz- 
ing for his absence. He was found on inquiry to pos- 
sess so much influence over considerable bands about 
St. Joseph's, of Lake Michigan, that Colonel Clark 
departed from his usual distant policy and invited him 
by a special messenger to come to Kaskaskia. The in- 
v^itation was immediately complied with and Black- 
bird visited Colonel Clark with only eight attendants. 
A.fter the party had recovered from their fatigue, 
preparations were made as usual for a council, with 
the ceremonies generally practiced. These were no 
sooner noticed by the sagacious chief than he informed 
Colonel Clark that he came on business of importance 
to both, and desired that no time might be lost on cer- 
emonies. This chief declared he wanted much con- 
versation with Colonel Clark, and would prefer sitting 
at the same table wnth him to all the parade and for- 
mality which could be used. Accordingly a room was 
prepared for this straightforward and direct chief and 
his American cotemporary : they both with their seats 
at the same table, having interpreters seated to the 
right and left. Black Bird opened the conference by 
saying, *he had long wished to enjoy a conversation 
with a chief of our nation : he had conversed with 
prisoners, but he could not confide in them for they 
seemed to be afraid to speak the truth. That he had 
engaged in the war against us was true, although 
doubts of its justice always crossed his mind owing to 
our appearing to be the same nation with the British. 
Some mystery hung over the matter which he wanted 
removed ; his anxiety was to hear both sides, while he 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 639 

had hitherto only been able to hear one.' Clark readily 
undertook to satisfy this inquisitive chief and com- 
pelled as he was to employ smiles for so many ideas 
foreign to barbarous society, it took him nearly half a 
day to answer the inquiries of the Indian. This was 
accomplished to his entire satisfaction and he expressed 
himself convinced that the Americans were perfectly 
right; he was glad that their old friends the French, 
had united their armies with ours, and the Indians 
ought to do the same. But as we did not wish this, his 
countrymen he thought, ought at least to be neutral. 
He was convinced the English must be afraid because 
they gave the Indians so many goods to fight for them ; 
his sentiments, he said, were fixed in our favor ; and 
he would no longer listen to the ofifers of the English. 
He would put an end to the war, and would call all his 
young men in as soon as he could get home and have 
an opportunity of explaining the nature of the war to 
them. 

"This display of the chief's sentiments may well be 
conceived to have given Clark the utmost satisfaction ; 
and he promised to write to the Governor of Virginia 
respecting his friendly conduct, and to have him reg- 
istered among the friends of the Big Knife. In a few 
days the chief set off for his native forests accompan- 
ied at his desire by an agent of Clark. A couple of 
pack-horses were loaded with provisions and presents 
for this sagacious and sensible Indian, who continued a 
faithful friend to American interests." 



640 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 
NOTE LVIL 

CLARK AND DE LEYBA's CONVIVIALITY. 

Clark speaks of De Leyba as "Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor of Western Illinois," instead of ''Lieutenant- 
Governor of Upper Louisiana;" as the former desig- 
nation was still in vogue. 

''Fernando de Leyba, governor of the western 
part of the Illinois [that is, of that part lying ziuest of 
the Mississippi, which then belonged to Spain] was in 
command at St. Louis from June 14, 1777, to June 
27, 1780, when he died. According to traditional re- 
port in St. Louis generally accepted (see Primm, p. 
ID, who, however, exaggerates), De Leyba was given 
to conviviality and indulged occasionally over much 
in the wine cup. Clark himself was fond of pleasure 
and his glass. It is not unlikely the 'intimacy' he 
speaks of and the 'freedom almost to excess,' that gave 
the greatest pleasure were illustrated in social enter- 
tainments in which he and De Leyba, boon companions 
for the time being, put aside reserve and enjoyed 
themselves freely. On these occasions, Clark probably 
preferred the stronger stimulant to which he was ac- 
customed, and the Spaniard chose the weaker, but 
equally effective, juice of the grape. 

"There was besides another tie uniting Clark and 
De Leyba . . . namely, Francis Vigo. This gen- 
tleman early interested himself in Clark's success and 
was practically active in promoting it ; their relations 
were certainly intimate. Vigo was not only a personal 
friend of De Leyba, but connected with him in busi- 
ness. When the Spanish Lieutenant Governor died he 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 641 

appointed Vigo his testamentary executor." . . . 
[O. W. Collett, in Magazine of Western History, vol. 
I (Feb. 1885), P- 274n.] 

Collett thinks that when this conviviaHty existed 
in so marked a manner between the two was when 
Clark was at Cahokia. 



NOTE LVIII. 

■ BRITISH ACCOUNTS OF THE TREATMENT ACCORDED 
ROCHEBLAVE AND CERRe' BY COLONEL CLARK. 

The news of the bad treatment accorded to M. 
Cerre' (and Rocheblave as well) upon Clark's first 
arrival in the Illinois, as it reached the far-away post 
of Michilimackinac, stirred a feeling of sympathy in 
the breast of at least one warm friend of these men. 
This sympathiser was one M. Monforton, a French- 
man of ability. In writing to Cerre', subsequently, 
and after he (Monforton) had gone from Michilimack- 
inac to Detroit, he expressed, in a most intelligent 
manner his regret that affairs had turned out so badly 
at the Illinois. "I feel warmly and I share all the 
pain of the bad treatment." said he, "which, with M 
Rocheblave, you have experienced from those who 
treat as enemies the persons whom honor and religion 
held submissive and faithful to their Prince." Mon- 
forton deplored, also, "the fatal movement in which, 
without help," Rocheblave had been "surprised and 
taken," which he declared was, as reported, "of a 
fury less to intimidate than provoke those whom Cap- 
tain Lord had confided to his care." "Could Captain 
Lord," asks Monforton, "have chosen a successor who 

41 



642 , HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

was more worthy of favor? — for, by his love of jus- 
tice, his zeal for the public good, and his disinterested- 
ness, he has justly merited this title from the inhabi- 
tants of the Illinois." What advantage," he also asks, 
can the people of the Illinois draw from an independ- 
ence such as the Virginians would offer them ? 

The conduct of the Americans in their invasion 
of Arkansas and other posts, their contraventions of 
the rights of men in respect to M. Rocheblave, "whose 
sole motive was to render himself useful to a people 
among whom a long residence had rendered him dear," 
— was, in Monforton's judgment, particularly repre- 
hensible. 

The inhabitants of the Illinois towns, Monforton 
declared, are promised more real advantages than those 
which they could procure from the British government. 
That they had not enjoyed what was really their due, 
under the command of Colonel Wilkins, he was ready 
to admit ; but the proofs the people had given of their 
attachment to Captain Lord, the regret which they 
testified at his departure, seemed, to the writer, to 
have destroyed the false ideas which his predecessor 
had raised in their minds ; and if, like himself, they 
had occasions for knowing the spirit and character of 
the British nation, they would be fully convinced "that 
the change with which they are threatened cannot 
but be fatal in its consequences.""^ However, these 
strictures, if they ever reached the ears of M. Cerre'. 
found him deaf to all appeals from his intelligent 
countryman. But the writer thereof had, as Hamilton 
afterward expressed himself, "done what was in his 
power to open the eyes of the French people at the 

* Monforton to Cerre,^ Sept. 22, 1778, — Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 643 

Illinois". The Lieutenant Governor declared that 
Monforton was "a man of sense and information far 
above the common standard in this country"* — 
which, it is evident, was praise well merited. 

Clark's treatment of Rocheblave is spoken of by 
Hamilton years after with indignation and, probably, 
with exaggeration. 

"On the 6th [8th] . of August, 1778, intelligence 
was brought me by Mr. Francis Maisonville, of the 
attack of the Illinois by Colonel Clark; the shameful 
treatment of Monsieur de Rocheblave, who was laid 
in irons, and put into a place where hogs had been 
kept, ankle deep in filth; the indignities offered Mad- 
ame de Rocheblave, [and of] the destruction of his 
[Rocheblave's] property." . . — Hamilton to Haldi- 
mand July 6, 1781 — Germain MSS. 

"On the 6th [8th] of August [1778], I received in- 
telligence of the rebels having pushed considerable 
detachments to the Illinois, where they made prisoner, 
Mons. La Rocheblave, whose activity as superintend- 
ent occasioned his being treated with shameful indig- 
nity." — Hamilton to the Com's of His Majesty's 
Treasury, 1783, MS. 

And De Peyster, soon after the events transpired, 
wrote thus: 

"MicHiLiMACKiNAC, 31 August, 1778. 

"Sir : — I have this moment received a letter from Mons'r 
Chevalier, of St. Joseph informing me that the rebels are 
in possession of all the Illinois ; that the party at Kaskaskia, 
consisting of two hundred and fifty commanded by one Wil- 
ling [Clark] is a part of 700 on their way for that country. 
Willing [Clark] has put Mr. De Rocheblave, the commandant, 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Oct. 4, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



644 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and one Mr. Cerre, in irons for having refused [to take] 
the oaths of allegiance to the King of Spain, the French 
king, and the Congress. The traders in that country, and 
many of them [are] from this post, are plundered; and the 
whole countrj^ [is] in the greatest confusion, being at a loss 
to know which route the rebels will take next. 
"I am, etc., 

"A. S. De Peyster." 



NOTE LIX. 

JOHN HAY TO CAPTAIN BREHM. [SEPT., I778].* 

'Tt is thought by many that the rebels that took posses- 
sion of Kayhaskia and Cahokia have by this time evacuated 
those places, but I am of a very different opinion, they had cer- 
tainly Bills upon the Spanish Governor which were answered 
on their being produced, and they bought up a quantity of cloth 
which was to be made up in regimentals for them : and as we 
have but too much reason to believe they were well received by 
the Inhabitants they will not lose their holds so soon, particu- 
larly while they can get provisions, etc., for their parties that 
are or may be in the Ohio. Some of the consequences will 
be that by the assistance of the Spaniards and well wishers 
to the Monagiie the Indians in the Wabash Country will 
probably remain nuter until they find themselves sufficiently 
supplied with necessaries, from that quarter and there we 
may expect they will be at least overbearing, and perhaps 
insolent, which will affect those nearer in so much as to 
require more expence and great diligence to keep them to their 
duty. The four Nations of the Lakes viz. The Autawas, 
Chippewas, Hurons and Powtowattamies have shewn great 
attachment to His Majesty and Government and Shanawese, 
Mingoes and part of the Delawares have been very active, 
they are stimulated as much by the late incursion of the 
Virginians under Lord Dunmore and their cruelties since, as 

* From the Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY Of CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 645 

anything else ; some of them took up the Hatchet before they 
were asked, the rest upon deliberation and in assurance of 
their being supported by Government and I must confess there 
never was known an Indian War carried on with as little of 
their wanton cruelty ; indeed the sparing of the lives of pris- 
oners, the aged men, women and children was insisted on 
from the first, and they have paid great attention to it, and 
never went without some reward for their complyance. 

"Great part of the Delawares are and have been neuter 
or rather in the Interest of the Rebells there is one of that 
Nation who is just returned from War sitting by me who 
tells me, there has lately been great quantity of provisions 
etc. brought to Fort Pitt and The Great Cantiana, which 
may be the case as they intend erecting Forts at the Falls and 
other places on the Ohio, to secure a Communication down 
the Mississippi one John Campbell of Fort Pitt received a 
commission from the Congress last winter with orders to 
collect or raise men, for that purpose, they have three Forts 
at Kentuckie which are great eye sores to the Indians being 
in the heart of their best hunting country. There is a body 
of Indians now out there accompanied by Lieut Dequindre 
and ten Volunteers of the Indian Department from this place 
we expect daily to hear what they have done. 

"This is so remote a place and I am so small a subject 
that it may appear presumption in me to form opinion of 
futurity yet I cannot help thinking that this place will become 
of more consequence in a little time than you or I were 
aware of when we used to talk of the growth of this country, 
the principal fort the Rebels have below Fort Pitt is at the 
great Canhawa Garrison by a camp any of their regulars and 
some country people — they have several more between that 
and Fort Pitt, but not so considerable. We have many more 
•parties out but Governor Hamilton (for want of fresh In- 
structions or orders) has confined himself to the tenor of 
those just received viz. carrying continual alarms to draw 
the attention of the rebells to the Frontiers preventing the 
resettling the country already abandoned, and harrassing those 
destined to keep up a communication between this small fort, 
which you may imagine they have done as three different 



646 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

parties sent from this since Spring have taken thirty three 
prisoners and eighty scalps with the loss of 8 principal 
Hurons, one Ottawa and one Powtawatame 14 of the different 
Nations wounded and what you may believe as a fact there 
has been but one instance of savage cruelty exercised upon 
any of them. Seventeen of the above prisoners were de- 
livered up here, but there are many more among them that 
as yet we know nothing of. 

''I am, Dear Brehm, Your real well wisher and most 
humble servant. 



NOTE LX. 

OF WEA AND "tHE MIAMIS." 

Wea,* "a miserable place," as Hamilton afterward 
designated it, was located on the north side of the Wa- 
bash, just below the site of the present city of Lafay- 
ette, Indiana. It stood about seventy yards from the 
river and consisted of a few cabins surrounded by 
pickets. During- the Revolution it was frequently 
spoken of by English writers as "Ouiatanon" — of 
which Wea (''Ouia"), was an abbreviation. The term 
"the Miamis" employed by Hamilton in this letter cited 
in the text, as of — was one in general use in the West 
during the Revolution to indicate the principal village 
of the Miami Indians. It was at the head of the 
Maumee — the site of the present city of Fort Wayne, 
Indiana, and was the beginning of the portage leading 
across to the waters of the Wabash. It was a post of 
some importance, one of the dependencies of Detroit. 

"He [Hamilton] believes he can set out the ist of 
October, and asks me to address my letters under cover 
to Captain Lernoult. As he sees the Indians do not 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 647 



look upon the Virginians with pleasure, but that the 
French appear to favor them, there is no time to lose ; 
he will try to anticipate my views in preventing the 
rebels from settling themselves solidly at the Illinois." 
— (Remarks of Haldimand on Hamilton's Letters: 
Haldimand MSS.) 



NOTE LXI. 



Hamilton's expedition to inflame the savages 

' AGAINST the AMERICANS. 

Many were the expedients employed by Hamil- 
ton to inflame the savages against the Americans and 
to win them over to the side of Britain. On one occa- 
sion, the Indians were drawn up in two lines, extend- 
ing from the Detroit river to the woods : their kettles 
and fires were between the lines. An ox was killed, 
and his head cut off: a large tomahawk was then 
struck into the head, and thus loaded, it was presented 
to the Governor. He was requested to sing his war 
song along the whole line of the Indians — for he had 
a song of his own. The ox's head represented the 
head of an American; and as the British were the 
principals in the war, it was necessary for them to take 
up the tomahawk first. [See Ontzva, the Son of the 
.Forest. A Poem. (New York: 1882), pp. 124, 125. 
The poem was written by Col. Henry Whiting; the- 
Notes are by Lewis Cass.] 



648 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE LXIL 

CONCERNING CAPT. LERNOULt's AID TO HAMILTON AND 
THE ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN BIRD IN DETROIT. 

"Captain Lernoult who, at that time, commanded 
the detachment of the King's (8th) regiment, assisted 
me greatly in forwarding everything necessary to be 
provided, and gave permission to Lieutenant Shourd, 
two sergeants, and thirty [one] rank and file, (who 
were all volunteers), to accompany me." — Hamilton 
to Haldimand, July 6, 1781 — Germain MSS. To be 
added to the regulars were one lieutenant fire worker 
and two matrosses. 

"His [Hamilton's] preparations were finally com- 
pleted, and he waited only for the arrival of Captain 
Bird and fifty of the King's Regiment from Niagara. 
They came on October 7, 1778, and on the same day 
Hamilton and his party set out for Vincennes." — 
Farmer's History of Detroit and Michigan, p. 250. 
The arrival of Bird resulted in Hamilton securing a 
promise of the regulars mentioned by him, but the 
Lieutenant-Governor had not awaited the Captain's 
coming. Lernoult's permit was given after Bird 
reached his destination and too late for the marching 
at once of the detachment with Hamilton. 



NOTE LXHL 

AS TO THE FORCE WHICH LEFT DETROIT UNDER 
HAMILTON. 

"To dispossess the Americans of the Illinois coun- 
try and Vincennes," says Bancroft [History of the 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 64^ 

United States (ed. of 1885), Vol. V., p. 312], ''on the 
seventh of October, Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton 
left Detroit with regulars and volunteers and three 
hundred and fifty warriors picked by their chiefs out 
of thirteen different nations." This error as to the 
number of Indians (some writers enumerating more, 
some less) is also to be found on the pages of several 
Western histories. As an instance : 

"It was not long before this state of things [Cap- 
tain Helm having possession of Fort Sackville, at Vin- 
cennes, 'with only two soldiers and a few volunteer 
militia' and the whole regular force under Clark, at 
Kaskaskia and Cahokia being reduced to less than one 
hundred men] was made known to Governor Hamil- 
ton, commandant at Detroit. Alarmed at the rapid 
success of the Virginia troops, and mortified at the 
disasters of the British arms, he determined to make 
an energetic invasion of the Illinois country, and re- 
trieve the honor of his Majesty's arms by the recap- 
ture of all the posts on the Wabash and [in the] Illi- 
nois, and by leading Colonel Clark and his followers 
captive to Detroit. 

"Having assembled six hundred warriors, in ad- 
dition to his force ot eighty regular soldiers and some 
Canadian militia, he set out upon the expedition to 
Vincennes." (Monnette's History of the Valley of the 
Mississippi, Vol. L, pp. 424, 425.) 

There were three interpreters from the Indian De- 
partment, each ranking as captain who were to go 
upon the expedition : Charles Reaume, Isidore Chesne 
and Alexander McKee. There were also other "In- 
dian officers" from the same Department — Lieuten- 
ants Fontenoy De Quindre, Lepiconiere De Quindre, 



•650 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



Ponchartrain De Quindre and Joseph Bondy. Augus- 
tine Lefoi and Amable St. Cosme were armorers and 
Nicholas Lasalle storekeeper. (Return of Hamilton, 
of Sept. 30, 1778 — Haldimand MSS.) But Captain 
McKee had, as already shown, gone to the Shawanese, 
to engage warriors from that nation for the enter- 
prise, preceded by Captain Chesne, who was with a 
war-party engaged in besieging one of the Kentucky 
forts; and, also, commanding the same party, was 
Lieut. Fontenoy De Quindre. 

The officers commanding the volunteer militia were 
captains Normond McLeod and Alexis Maisonville; 
Lieutenants Jacob SchieffeUn, Joncaire Chabert, 
Chevalier Chabert, Pierre St. Cosme and Medard 
Gamelin — the latter acting as adjutant: Over Cap- 
tain Lamothe's company and the militia was placed 
Jehu Hay as major, who, as Deputy Indian Agent, 
had also charge of a large amount of Indian presents, 
which were to be taken along to conciliate the sav- 
ages. 

A man by the name of Chapman went as quarter- 
master and John McBeath as surgeon to the expedi- 
tion; Antoine Bellefeuille as interpreter; in addition 
to those before mentioned, Charles Lovain, as com- 
missary of provisions at the Miamis — head of Mau- 
mee; Adhemar St. Martin, as commissary for the de- 
tachment and Indians; Francis Maisonville, as boat- 
master ; and Amos Ansly, as master carpenter. (Ham- 
ilton's Return, loc. cit.) Farmer, in his History of De- 
troit and Michigan, p. 250, says Hamilton was accom- 
panied by Philip Dejean, his secretary. But it was 
some months before Dejean followed the Lieutenant- 
Governor. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 65i 

St. Martin is usually mentioned by his first or 
given name, but not always: "Late in November, 
1775, the Chippewa was wrecked on the southern coast 
of Lake Erie. Lieut. Col. Caldwell judged it expe- 
dient to have her cargo destroyed. Mr. Adhemar St. 
Martin was the principal sufferer on this occasion, 
his loss [being] upwards of four hundred pounds 
[sterling]. A memorial from this place was sent in 
his behalf, but he has never heard of its having been 
attended to. He has a large family with a good rep- 
utation for its chief (almost only) support. His losses 
by the Government, hitherto unrepaid, have distressed 
him in a degree I need not paint to your Excellency — 
loss of goods — loss of opportunity — while the trad- 
ers on every side are enriching themselves in this time 
of trouble ; and he has known upwards of one hundred 
per cent, given for articles indispensibly necessary to 
the service and rendered valuable by their great scar- 
city — pitch, tallow, salt, sugar, soap, one half a dol- 
lar the pound. Powder £30 and £40 the hundred 
weight. I humbly recommend Mr. Adhemar, there- 
fore, to your Excellency's compassionate feeling for 
his distress." — Hamilton to Haldimand [Sep. 5] 
1778 — Haldimand MSS. Of the regulars and "ir- 
regulars" of his force, Hamilton afterward wrote: 

"Our numbers . . . were as follow : Of reg- 
ulars, one lieutenant fireworker, two matrosses, — 
[also] one lieutenant, two sergeants, thirty [one] rank 
and file of the King's (8th) regiment. Of irregulars 
[Captain Lamothe's company], one captain and Heu- 
tenant, two sergeants, 4[o] rank and file." (Hamil- 
ton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781 — Germain MSS. On 
the 30th of September, 1778, he enumerates, of the 



652 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

militia, seventy-one exclusive of officers ; of the latter 
there were one major, two captains, four lieutenants, 
one adjutant, one quartermaster, one surgeon, four 
sergeants — in all, fourteen : total of militia, eighty- 
five. — {''ReHirn'' made at Detroit on the above date 
— Haldimand MSS.) 

When the time came to march, there was a falling 
off in the number of Hamilton's Indian allies, so that, 
as mentioned in the text, only about seventy made their 
appearance. 



NOTE LXIV. 



HAMILTON S FIRST MARCH INTENDED ONLY TO REACH 
VINCENNES. 

[Ante, Chap. X, p. — .] 

Hamilton's ''winter movement of six hundred 
miles" only had reference to the distance from Detroit 
to Vincennes. It seems from Hamilton's words that 
he made no preparations for the march beyond Vin- 
cennes ; as there he would (as he suggested to Haldi- 
mand) wait for reinforcements; and, as will hereafter 
be seen, additional supplies were to be forwarded 
there as soon as any could be spared from Detroit. A 
recent writer says : "This news [that conveyed by 
Sir Guy Carleton to Hamilton, in his letter of Sept. 
26, 1777, wherein he states that the conduct of the war 
has been taken entirely out of his hands, and the man- 
agement of it upon the Western frontier given to the 
Lieutenant-Governor] was doubtless pleasing to Ham- 
ilton, and there can be no doubt that, soon after this, 
he commenced to plan an incursion which he would 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 653 

lead in person, Meantime, on June 26, 1778, General 
Haldimand succeeded General Carleton, and Hamil- 
ton, apparently, began to fear that his powers would 
be restricted. In great haste he completed his prep- 
arations for an attack on the American posts. He be- 
gan to talk of what he proposed to do and was confi- 
dent and even boastful. His preparations were finally 
completed [for starting on his march to Vincennes]." 
(Farmer's History of Detroit and Michigan, p. 250.) 
The idea here conveyed as to Carleton's meaning is ev- 
idently a mistake. Sir Guy only referred to the con- 
duct of the war in Hamilton's department, so far as 
the Indians were concerned, as indicated in the letter 
of Germain of the 26th of March, 1777. In that letter 
no authority is given the Lieutenant-Governor to or- 
ganize an expedition of British troops, militia and In- 
dians to go against the Americans. 



NOTE LXV. 



AS TO HELM^S FORCE SENT TO VINCENNES, AND THE 
TIME OF STARTING. 

Some writers have stated, owing to supposed sub- 
sequent developments, that Helm took with him from 
the Illinois but one soldier. This is clearly an error. 

As already shown, Hamilton at Detroit got intel- 
ligence by the middle of September that the "rebels" 
had sent three persons to Vincennes from the Illinois. 
Clark says he was not able to spare many men (see 
his letter to Mason — Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, 
p. 49). Reliance is to be placed upon the number re- 



654 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 

ported to Hamilton, as it was coupled with other intel- 
ligence of undoubted truthfulness. (Letter to Haldi- 
mand of Sep. i6, 1778, in the Haldimand MSS.) 

It is evident that August was not far advanced 
when the Captain started, as he had reached Vincennes 
before the fourteenth of that month. (Hamilton to 
Haldimand, Jan. 24-28, 1779 — Haldimand MSS.) 
In his Memoir, Clark says that Helm set out to take 
possession of his new command about the middle of 
August. This is as near the time as he could remem- 
ber years after. 

One of Kentucky's historians writes : "Captain 
Leonard Helm was appointed by Colonel Clark com- 
mandant at St. Vincents [Vincennes] and 'agent for 
Indian affairs in the department of the Wabash.' This 
ofhcer was particularly recommended to Clark for his 
knov.dedge of the department, and by the general pru- 
dence of his character. As Clark intended to place a 
strong garrison at this post when the reinforcements 
which he expected from Virginia should arrive. Cap- 
tain Helm was made fully acquainted with his plans 
and received his utmost confidence." (Butler's Ken- 
tucky, p .65.) But when Helm was sent to Vincennes, 
Clark was not expecting any reinforcements whatever, 
either "from Virginia" or elsewhere. He had as yet 
not heard a word from the Virginia governor since his 
arrival in the Illinois. 

Captain Helm and the two soldiers under him 
were the "three persons" mentioned by Hamilton to 
Haldimand in his letter of the sixteenth of September, 
referred to in a previous chapter. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 655 
NOTE LXVI. 

CAPT. helm's council WITH THE PIANKESHAWS. 

"I now, by Captain Helm, touched him [the Grand 
Door] on the same spring I had done the inhabitants 
[on the occasion of sending Gibault to Vincennes], 
and sent a speech with a belt of wampum, directing the 
Captain how to manage, if the chief was pacifically in- 
clined, or otherwise. . . . He [Captain Helm] 
sent for the Grand Door and delivered my letter to 
him. After having read it, he informed the Captain 
that he was happy to see him — one of the Big Knife 
chiefs — in this town: it was here [at Vincennes] that 
he had joined the English against him; but he con- 
fessed that he always thought they looked gloomy ; that 
as the contents of the letter was a matter of great 
moment, he could not give an answer for some time; 
that he must collect his counsellors [and advise with 
them] on the subject; and was in hopes the Captain 
would be patient. In short, he put on all the courtly 
dignity, that he was master of ; and Captain Helm fol- 
lowing his example, it was several days before this 
business was finished, as the whole proceedings was 
very ceremonious. 

"At length the Captain was invited to the Indian 
council, and informed by the Tobacco [the Grand Door 
— son of Tobacco] that they had mutually considered 
the case in hand, and had got the nature of the war 
between the English and us explained to their satis- 
faction ; that, as we spoke the same language and ap- 
peared to be the same people, he always thought he 
was in the dark as to the truth of it ; but now the sky 



656 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

was cleared up ; that he found that the Big Knife was 
in the right ; that perhaps, if the Enghsh conquered, 
they would serve them in the same manner that they 
intended to serve us ; that his ideas were quite changed ; 
and that he would tell all the red people on the Wabash 
to bloody the land no more for the English. He 
jumped up, struck his breast, called himself a man and 
a warrior ; said that he was now a Big Knife, and took 
Captain Helm by the hand. His example was followed 
by all present, and the evening was spent in merriment. 
Thus ended this valuable negotiation and [which re- 
sulted in] the saving of much blood. . . . 

In a short time, almost the whole of the various 
tribes of the different nations on the Wabash, as high 
as the Ouiatenon [the Wea] came to Vincennes, and 
followed the example of the Grand Door chief. And 
as expresses w^re continually passing between Captain 
Helm and myself the whole time of [the holding of] 
these treaties, the business was settled perfectly to my 
satisfaction and greatly to the advantage of the pub- 
lic [that is, greatly to the advantage of the Americn 
interests]." — Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. 
of 1859), pp. 129-131. But Clark's recollection was at 
fault in saying that nearly all the Wabash Indians as 
high as Wea followed the Grand Door's example in 
making peace. 

The result of the council with the Piankeshaw 
Indians has given rise to a fictitious story which has 
found its way into print, wherein the meeting is spoken 
of as having been held at Kaskaskia and that Clark 
was holding the council when the Grand Door (or Big 
Gate, as he is therein called) made his appearance. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 657 

"Relieved by the result of Gibault's diplomacy at 
Vincennes from apprehension of an attack from that 
quarter, Clark turned his whole attention to the pacifi- 
cation of the neighboring Indian tribes. His plan was 
to treat them with the strictest justice, adopting a man- 
ner kind, haughty, or contemptuous, as occasion de- 
manded; but always reserved and dignified. Main- 
taining the superiority of the white, he never allowed 
himself to be provoked into any unseemly display of 
passion or excitement, — seldom offering presents ; 
when he did so, it was always with the distinct under- 
standing that it was a mere act of grace, and not in- 
tended as a bribe. Though anxious to secure the neu- 
trality of the tribes of the Illinois, he never condes- 
cended to invite them to a council, and all the over- 
tures for peace came from those who had begun the 
war. 

"Yet, when necessary, no one could be more per- 
suasive, as was proven by his interview with the Big 
Gate — so called from having, when a youth, shot a 
British officer standing on the gate of the fort at De- 
troit, during the attempt of Pontiac to surprise that 
place. This chief, a deadly foe to the Big Knives, had 
accidently met a party of Piankeshaws coming to at- 
tend the great council, which was being held by the 
American commander at Kaskaskia ; and although an 
avowed enemy, he resolved to accompany them in or- 
der to behold this mighty chief of the pale-faces whose 
fame had spread over the whole northwest. With the 
most audacious calmness, he appeared each day in the 
council, sitting conspicuously in the front of the room 
in full war-dress, wearing the bloody belt he had re- 
ceived from the English, and elaborately bedecked in 
42 



658 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

his war-paint. Thus he continued to attend for many 
days, saying not a word to the Americans nor they to 
him. But on the last day, when the dehberations were 
closed, Clark addressed him, apologizing for not notic- 
ing him until the public business was over. He said: 
'Although they were enemies, still it was the custom 
of the white men, when they met in this way, to treat 
each other in proportion to their exploits in war.' On 
this account and because 'he was a great chief the Col- 
onel invited him to dinner — a compliment never ex- 
tended to less distinguished men. The savage, taken 
completely by surprise, endeavored to decline ; but 
Clark would take no denial. 

''At last the chief, confused by such unexpected 
kindness and attention, and yielding to the spell of a 
superior mind, could contain his excited feelings no 
longer. Springing into the middle of the room, he 
flung down the war-belt and a little British flag that 
he carried in his bosom, and ended by stripping him- 
self of every article of clothing except his breech-cloth. 
Then striking himself energetically upon the breast, 
he told his hearers that 'they all knew he had been a 
great warrior from his youth up and delighted in bat- 
tle. That he had been out three times against the Big 
Knives in Kentucky, for the British had told him lies ! 
That he was preparing for another war-party when 
Clark arrived, when he determined to rest himself 
awhile, and come and hear what the Americans had 
to say on their side of the question. Now he knew 
the Big Knives were right, and as an honest warrior, 
he would no longer fight against them' ; upon which he 
shook hands with Clark and his officers and saluted 
them as brothers. He ever afterward remained true 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 659 

to his new friends and in a private interview detailed 
to the Colonel the situation of Detroit, and offered to 
go out and bring him a scalp or a prisoner. Clark 
declined the offered scalp, but said that he would be 
glad to secure a prisoner, from whom he could obtain 
some information of the movements of the British. 
The chief, dressed in a fine laced suit, decorated with 
a silver medal, and bearing a captain's commission, 
set out on this expedition." (Coleman, in Harper's 
Mag., vol. XXIII, p. 52). 

And a writer in The North American Reviezv 
[vol. XLIII (July, 1836), p. 17], erroneously speaks of 
Clark's negotiation with the Indians, as though it was 
carried on by the Colonel in person, both on the Wa- 
bash and at Cahokia. He says : 

''Though Clark had effected so much, having 
taken two important posts from the British [Kaskas- 
kia and Cahokia being considered as one and Vin- 
cennes as another] and having won the favor of the 
French, there was yet another influence to be propiti- 
ated, more important and more hostile than either. 
The business, now more difficult than anything he had 
yet accomplished, was to awe or persuade the Indians 
of the Wabash into an alliance with the Americns. 
And in this affair he displayed as much sagacity and 
perseverence as in his previous exploits. The French 
have [had] invariably succeeded in winning the friend- 
ship of the Indians. The English almost as invariably 
have [had] failed. By an attentive study of the Indian 
character, Clark had learned to combine the dignity 
and firmness which awe, with that ceremonious beha- 
vior which pleases the pride and vanity of the savage. 
In the 'treaties held by him at Cahokia and on the 



600 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Wabash, was displayed the correctness of this view of 
the Indian." 

Indian speeches afterward reached the ears of 
Hamilton said (but without a semblance of truth) to 
have been made when the "rebels" first arrived at 
Vincennes : ''Having called the Indians together, they 
[the 'rebels'] laid a war belt colored red and a belt col- 
ored green before them, telling them that if they de- 
lighted in mischief and had no compassion on their 
wives and children they might take up the red one; 
if, on the contrary, they were wise and preferred peace, 
the green one. 

"The Old Tobacco, a chief of the Piankeshaws, 
spoke as follows : 'My brothers ! You speak in a man- 
ner not to be understood. I never yet saw nor have 
I heard from my ancestors, that it was customary to 
place good and bad things in the same dish. You talk 
to us as if you meant us well, yet you speak of war 
and peace in the same minute. Thus, I treat the 
speeches of such men' — on which, with a violent kick, 
he spurned their belts from him. 

"The son of Lagesse, a young chief of the Potta- 
wattamies, of St. Joseph, spoke next to them : 

" 'My brothers ! 'Tis because I have listened to the 
voice of our old men and because I have regard for 
our women and children, that I have not before now 
struck my tomahawk into some of your heads. Attend 
to what I say. I will only go to see in what condition 
our wives and children are [meaning, he would first 
place them in security] and then you may depend on 
seeing me again.' 

"The rebel speaker [Captain Helm] then said: 
'You are young men and your youth excuses your 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 661 

ignorance — else you would not talk as you do. Our 
design is to march through your country, and if we 
find any fires in our way we shall just tread them out 
as we walk along; and if we meet with any obstacle 
or barrier we shall remove it with all ease, but the 
bystanders must take care lest the splinters should scar 
their faces. 

" 'We shall then proceed to Detroit where your 
father is whom we consider as a hog put to fatten in 
a pen ; we shall enclose him in his pen till he be fat and 
then we will throw him into the river. We shall draw 
a reinforcement from the Falls on the Ohio, and from 
there and the Illinois send six hundred men to Detroit." 

"To this the Indians replied : "You who are so 
brave, what need have you to be reinforced to go to 
Detroit — you that can put out our fires and so easily 
remove our barriers ? — This we say to you : Take 
care that, in attempting to extinguish our fires you do 
not burn yourselves ; and that, in breaking down our 
barriers, you do not run splinters into your hands. 
You may also expect that we shall not suffer a single 
Frenchman to accompany you to Detroit."^ 

Mention being frequentl}^ m.ade of two Fianke- 
shaw chiefs — "Old Tobacco" and his son, by Western 
writers, by whom the two are considered as having the 
same name, care should be taken to distinguish be- 
tween them. 

"Captain Leonard Helm was put in command of 
Vincennes, and appointed Superintendent of Indian 
affairs on the Wabash by Clark. The principal busi- 

* Proceedings of the Rebels at Vincennes, as Related to 
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton by Neegik, an Ottawa War 
Chief, Oct. 14, 1778. — Haldimand MSS, 



862 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

ness entrusted to him was securing the friendship of 
the Indians of the Wabash, particularly of the Pianke- 
shaws, as they were located at and near Vincennes. 
The head chief was Tabac, who, inasmuch as his tribe 
lived lower down the Wabash than any other, and 
therefore commanded its navigation, was called the 
Grand Door of the Wabash." — Dunn's Indiana, p. 

137. 

Dunn, in a foot-note to the word "Tabac" ex- 
plains that it means Tobacco ; and he then adds : "His 
father had the same name, heuce this chief was some- 
times called Young Tobac, or Tobacco's Son." 

The father was everywhere known upon the Wa- 
bash as "Tobac," "Tobacco" or "Old Tobacco," by the 
whites ; but no cotemporaneous account speaks of his 
son as being known by either of these names. In the 
various Indian languages of the New World, the son 
'never took the name of the father, unless, indeed, so 
spoken of first by white people. It is true that But- 
ler (History of Kentucky, p. 65), says that "near the 
post of St. Vincents [Vincennes], there was a chief by 
the name of 'Tobacco's Son,' whose name appears in 
the deed to the Wabash Company, in 1775, as 'Tabac' ;" 
but, in this the historian is in error. The deed men- 
tions but the name of the father ('Tabac or Tobacco") 
and ("Tabac, Junior") the son, where the writer of 
the deed uses "Tabac, Junior" instead of "the Son of 
Tobacco," or "the Tobacco's Son." In a deed exe- 
cuted in 1779, the latter signs his name, "Francis, Son 
of Tobacco." "Big Door" (or "Big Gate"), as applied 
by the Piankeshaws to their chief, was a title of honor 
merely — he guarded the door or gate of the Wabash ; 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 663 

i. e., the mouth of the river, and thereby controlled 
largely its navigation. 

Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, at Detroit, did 
not rely solely upon De Celoron for news concerning 
"rebel" movements in the Wabash valley: "Mr." 
Charles Beaubien, employed for his Majesty at the Mi- 
amis, writes that the savages at Vincennes will not take 
the rebels by the hand; that the [White river] Dela- 
wares, [the] Illinois, Ottawas, and Shawanese were 
determined to strike the rebels, but the Piankeshaws 
interfered. The latter want to know the determina- 
tion of the Kickapoos and Weas. He adds that the 
French are said to be in the interest of the rebels."* 

Subsequently, in person, Beaubien recounted the 
substance of what had been brought to him by a Miami 
Indian from Eel river — speeches of Chickasaws, Pi- 
ankeshaws and ''Virginians" to the Miami Indians at 
their town [at the head of the Maumee]. The sava- 
ges first mentioned advised all the Wabash Indians 
including the Miamis to demand of the "Virginians" 
that they withdraw from the country. The Pianke- 
shaws declared to the same tribes that they would have 
already struck the "Virginians," but awaited their 
reply ; that it was their feeling these whites should be 
sent home ; and that the Dela wares of White river, 
also, the Illinois savages and the Ottawas, thought the 
same. The "speech" of the "Virginians" asked all the 
Wabash tribes and the Miamis to visit them ; that they 
intended to attack Detroit soon, and would make an 

* Hamilton to Haldimand, Sept. 16, 1778. — Haldimand 
MSS. 



664 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

end of Hamilton ; and that as for the Indians there, 
they regarded them as nothing."^ 



NOTE LXVII. 



Bancroft's erroneous views concerning the 

SPEECH sent RY CAPTAIN HELM TO THE WEA SAV- 
AGES. 

"His [Gibault's] own offer of mediation being 
accepted [by Clark], he, with a small party, repaired 
to the post [of Vincennes] ; and its people, having 
listened to his explanation of the state of affairs, wfent 
into the church and took the oath of allegiance to the 
United States. The transition from the condition of 
subjects of a king to that of the integral members of 
a free state made them new men. Planning the ac- 
quisition of the whole northwest, they sent to the In- 
dians on the Wabash five belts : a white one for the 
French ; a red one for the Spaniards ; a blue one for 
America ; and for the Indian tribes a green one as an 
offer of peace, and one of the color of blood if they 
preferred war, with the message : The King of 
France has come to life. We desire you to leave a 
very wide path for us to pass through your country to 

* Speeches brought by Mr. Charles Beaubien to Detroit, 
the 27th [26th] Sept., 1778. — Haldimand MSS. The infor- 
mation obtained from Beaubien by Hamilton must have satis- 
fied the Lieutenant Governor that the Wabash savages (ex- 
cept the Piankeshaws) were not reconciled to the "Vir- 
ginians ;" and Capt. Helm, in deciding not to attempt a 
march to the Miami village at the head of the Maumee, 
doubtless came to the same conclusion. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST,, ETC. Q^'^ 

Detroit, for we are many in numbers and we might 
chance to hurt some of your young people with our 
swords." — Bancroft's History of the United States 
(ed. of 1885), vol. V, pp. 311, 312.) 

It can hardly be said, however, with strict adher- 
ence to fact, that the inhabitants of Vincennes were 
changed to any great extent — certainly not "made 
new men" — by the turn affairs had taken. They nat- 
urally felt elated at the news brought by Gibault and 
would henceforth favor American interests; that was 
all : they by no means planned the acquisition of any 
territory, nor did they send any belts to the Indians to 
induce them to terms of peace with the Virginians. 
The inference in the extract just given is, that this 
speech was sent at the time of Gibault's visit, and by 
the people of Vincennes ; which is contrary to the state- 
ment received by Hamilton. De Conague and his five 
white companions bringing to De Celoron ''belts and 
speeches from the rebels," plainly implies that they 
came from the Americans — that is, from Captain 
Helm — otherwise the Wea commandant would not 
have taken his ignoble flight. 



NOTE LXVIII. 

THE WABASH LAND COMPANY'S PURCHASE FROM THE 
PIANKESHAWS. 

The Wabash Land Company was composed of 
"Louis Viviat, the Right Honorable John, Earl of 
Dunmore, Governor of the Colony and Dominion of 



666 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Virginia, the Honorable John Murray, son of the said 
Earl, Moses Franks and Jacob Franks, of the city 
of London, in the Kingdom of Great Britain, Es- 
quires; Thomas Johnson, Jr., Esquire, attorney-at- 
law, and John Davidson, merchant, both of the city 
of Annapolis, in the Province of Maryland; William 
Russell, Esquire, Matthew Ridley, Robert Christee, 
Sen., and Robert Christie, Jr., of Baltimore tov/n, in 
the said Province of Maryland, merchants ; Peter 
Campbell, of Piscataway, in Maryland, merchant; 
WilHam Geddes, of Newtown Chester, in IMaryland, 
Esq., collector of His INIajesty's customs; David 
Franks, merchant, and Moses Franks, attorney-at- 
law, both of the city of Philadelphia, in the Province 
of Pennsylvania ; William Murray, and David Mur- 
ray, of the Illinois country, merchants ; Nicholas 
St. Martin and Joseph Page, of the same place, gen- 
tlemen ; Francis Perthuis, late of Quebec city, in 
Canada, but now [Oct. i8, 1775] of Post St. Vincent 
[Vincennes]." 

The negotiations resulting in the purchase of lands 
from the Piankeshaws were carried on for the Com- 
pany by Louis Viviat, of the Illinois country — who 
acted as agent for the Association — at Vincennes and 
Vermillion. The deed conveyed the lands to the 
grantees, "or to his most sacred Majesty George 
the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, 
France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, 
and so forth, his heirs and successors," for their use; 
and the number of acres bought were about thirty- 
seven million four hundred and ninety-seven thous- 
and six hundred. 



• HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 667 
NOTE LXIX. 

FICTION ABOUT CAPTAIN LEONARD HELM. 

"There is an anecdote respecting Captain Leon- 
ard Helm, evincing an intrepidity which would ill 
be omitted: it has been communicated to the author 
through the friendly interest of Judge Underwood, 
and his venerable relative, Edmund Rogers, Esq., of 
Barren county [Ky.], a brother of Captain John 
Rogers, and personally intimate with Clark and his 
officers for years. It is as follows : When Governor 
Hamilton entered Vincennes, there were but two 
Americans there, Captain Helm, the commandant, 
and one Henry. The latter had a cannon well charged 
and placed in the open fort gate, while Helm stood 
by it with a lighted match in his hand. When Ham- 
ilton and his troops got within good hailing dis- 
tance, the American officer in a loud voice cried out, 
'Halt !' This stopped the movements of Hamilton, 
who, in reply, demanded a surrender of the garri- 
son. Helm exclaimed with an oath, 'No man shall 
enter until I know the terms.' Hamilton answered, 
'You shall have the honors of war,' and then the fort 
was surrendered with its garrison of one officer and 
one private. Such is a specimen of the character of 
Colonel Clark's followers. They were the very choice 
of Virginia and the western frontier. Dangers they 
scarcely counted, and difficulties presented themselves 
but to be overcome." (Butler's Kentucky, p. 79n). 
There were, it is true, at the time of surrender, but 
two of Clark's men inside the fortification — Captain 



G68 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

' Helm and a private ; but there were in addition three 
Vincennes miUtia. 

As the particulars concerning the surrender of 
Fort Sackville by Captain Helm were written down 
by Hamilton almost at the very time of the happen- 
ing of the events described; and as they are given 
in a letter which must be considered as an official re- 
port; the utmost credit is to be given the whole re- 
lation. 

It must be admitted that the marching of Ham- 
ilton up to the fort at the head of five hundred 
whites and Indians (with a six-pounder ready for 
instant work), to demand its surrender, the Lieutenant 
Governor at the same time being fully advised that 
the garrison had forsaken Captain Helm until he was 
left "almost alone," savors strongly of the ludicrous; 
and it certainly required not a little amount of bravery 
for the British commander afterward to detail the 
whole affair to his Commander-in-chief. 

Helm, in surrendering himself and his small gar- 
rison, acted, under all the circumstances, with com- 
mendable courage, confronted as he was (and as he 
could plainly see) by an overwhelming force of white 
men and savages. But the attitude assumed by the 
Captain at the time has, by tradition, been set off 
with grandiloquent language as one of mock-heroic 
defiance. It comes down to us in different histories, 
varying in the intensity of its absurdity. 

As all the pleasantry (if such a term can here be 
properly employed) bestowed hitherto upon the event 
by American writers, depends for its point upon the 
smallness of the garrison when it was surrendered 
by Captain Helm, it is proper that what informa- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 669 

tion can be added as to the actual number, be now 
brought forward. 

An eye-witness — a Lieutenant of one of Ham- 
ilton's companies — says that Captain Helm and "a 
few soldiers were made prisoners;"* while the frank 
admission of the Lieutenant Governor that the Cap- 
tain when he surrendered ''was almost alone" makes 
it altogether certain that Fort Sackville, when given 
up to the British, had but a handful (so to speak) 
of defenders. But it is important to know the exact 
number — if it can be determined. 

The popular impression (and the one that has 
gained from tradition the rnost extensive circulation) 
is, that but one man — Moses Henry — was left in 
the fort besides the commander when Hamilton 
marched up to the gate and demanded a surrender. 
Upon the strength of this, accounts have been pub- 
lished of the most melo-dramatic character; as, for 
instance : 

* The Lieutenant referred to was Jacob Schieffelin, of 
Captain Lamothe's company. {Loose Notes^ — Magazine of 
American History, vol. I, p. 186.) 

"And what few men that composed the garrison, not 
being able to make the least defence., etc. [the italicising is 
mine]." — ^ Clark to Gov. Henry, Feb. 3, 1779 {Calendar of 
Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 315). See, also, Clark's 
language in his letter of April 29, following {Jefferson's 
Works, vol. I, p. 222 n), as to the same matter. 

"Captain Helm (Monnette — History of the Valley of the 
Mississippi, vol. I, p. 424) was left with only two soldiers 
and a few volunteer militia to protect the fort at Vincennes." 
The two soldiers were those who came with him from Kas- 
kaskia ; and there were only two, although that writer (vol. 
I, p. 422) speaks of Captain Helm being dispatched from 
Kaskaskia to Vincennes "with a small garrison." 



670- HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"When Governor Hamilton entered Vincennes 
there were but two Americans there — Captain Helm, 
the commandant, and one Henry. The latter had 
a cannon well charged and placed in the open fort 
gate, while Helm stood by it with a lighted match 
in his hand. When Hamilton and his troops got 
within good hailing distance, the American officer, 
in a loud voice, cried out : 'Halt !' This stopped 
the movements of Hamilton, who, in reply, demanded 
a surrender of the garrison. Helm exclaimed with 
an oath, 'No man shall enter until I know the terms.' 
Hamilton answered : 'You shall have the honors of 
war;' and then the fort was surrendered, with its 
garrison of one officer and one man." (Cutler's Ken- 
tucky, p. 80.) The relation regarding the loaded 
cannon is undoubtedly fictitious. 

"The brave captain [Helm] refused to surrender 
the fort when demanded, until terms — the honors 
of war — were granted him. Only himself and one 
soldier (Moses Henry) were surrendered." (John 
Moses: Illinois'. Historical and Statistical, vol. I, p. 
155.) But, were there not other persons besides Henry 
with Captain Helm? According to reliable tradition, 
there were, as already stated, five men in Fort Sack- 
ville, besides Captain Helm, when it was surrendered 
— two Americans, and three citizens of Vincennes, of 
the militia of the town. I have been able to obtain, 
from a variety of sources, sufficient assurance of this, 
although no statement I have examined was made 
at the time of the surrender. 

"When the fort was thrown open, Captain Helm 
and five men, with due formality, marched out and 
laid down their arms before the astonished com- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 671 

maiider." (Alonnette's History of the Valley of the 
Mississippi, vol. I, p. 425). 

But, as already seen, the Captain and his small 
force did not march out of the fort at all. The 
same writer (vol. I, pp. 425, 426) says: ''Captain 
Helm and one other American were retained as pris- 
oners of war, the other three being volunteer citi- 
zens of Vincennes." This gives the Captain but 
four men at the time Hamilton entered the fort. But 
there were, as a matter of fact, two Americans be- 
side Helm inside the fort at the time, one being a 
soldier belonging to Clark '.s force (who had been 
detailed to march to Vincennes under Helm) and 
the other Closes Henry, already mentioned, a black- 
smith, residing in the village, who was not in the 
military service. Captain Helm, it will be remem- 
bered, brought with him two soldiers from Kas- 
kaskia ; but one — Captain Williams' brother — who 
had been dispatched at the last moment with a letter 
to Colonel Clark, was, as before mentioned, captured, 
and, at the time of the surrender, was a prisoner in 
the hands of the enemy. 

But "a garrison of five" has not restrained the 
pens of writers of Western annals from indulging in 
romantic relations : 

''The news of Clark's success having at length 
reached Detroit . . . Hamilton, the British 
Governor, at once determined to recapture the post 
again, and accordingly with eighty regulars, a large 
number of Canadian militia, and six hundred Indians, 
he ascended the Maumee . . . crossed over 
to the Wabash, and made a rapid movement on 
Vincennes, thinking to take the fort by storm, and 



672 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

destroy all within the garrison. Thus they moved 
forward. Helm was not to be dismayed. Full of 
confidence, and with an air that served to signify 
that the fort was full of soldiers, he leaped upon 
the bastion, near a cannon, and, swinging his lighted 
match, shouted v/ith great force, as the advancing 
column approached, 'Halt! or I will blow you to 
atoms !' At which, the Indians precipitately took to 
the woods and the Canadians fell back out of range 
of the cannon. Fearing that the fort was well 
manned, and that a desperate encounter would ensue, 
Hamihon thought best to offer a parley; Captain 
Helm declaring that he would fight as long as a 
man was left to bear arms, unless permitted to march 
out with the full honors of war, which were at length 
agreed upon, and the garrison thrown open. Helm, 
and Hve men, all told, marching out, to the utmost 
astonishment of the British commander. But Helm 
was afterwards detained in the fort as a prisoner.'* 
(Brice's Fort Wayne, pp. loi, 102.) 

A recent writer discourses thus on the surrender 
of the fort to Hamilton : 'Toor Helm was promptly 
deserted by all the Creole militia. The latter had 
been loud in their boasts until the enemy came in 
view, but even as they caught sight of the red-coats 
they began to slip away and run up to the British 
to surrender their arms. He was finally left with 
only one or two men, Americans. Nevertheless he 
refused the first summons to surrender; but Ham- 
ilton, who knew that Helm's troops had deserted him, 
marched up to the fort at the head of his soldiers, 
and the American was obliged to surrender, with no 
terms granted save that he and his associates should 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 673 

be treated with humanity." — Roosevelt : The Wm- 
ning of the West, vol. II, p. 63. 

It is to be noted in considering the foregoing, 

( 1 ) that not all the Creole militia deserted Helm ; 

(2) that the deserters did not wait until the red-coats 
came in view; (3) Helm was left with more than 
one or two men and who were not all Americans; 
and (4) the terms granted were not expressly to 
Helm and his associates, but to the Captain only. 



NOTE LXX, 



SOME ERRORS BY HISTORIANS AS TO HAMILTON S FORCE 
WHEN HE LEFT DETROIT. 

(i) "When these proceedings [the conquest and 
submission of the Illinois towns and Vincennes] came 
to the ears of Colonel Hamilton at Detroit, he started 
out with a little army of about 500 men, regulars, 
Tories, and Indians, and after a march of seventy 
days through the primeval forest reached Vincennes 
and took possession of it." (Fiske: ''The American 
Revolution;'' vol. II, p. 106.) The principal errors 
in the foregoing are that Hamilton started out with 
five hundred men and that a portion of them was 
tories. 

(2) "Gov. Hamilton at Detroit," says L. C. 
Draper (Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biog- 
raphy, art. 'George Rogers Clark'), "marched a large 
force, mostly Indians, and retook Vincennes early in 
December [1778]." There are two errors, by impli- 
cation, in this : ( i ) that the Lieutenant Governor 

43 



674 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 

marched from Detroit with a large force, mostly 
Indians, and (2) that he retook 'Vincennes before the 
middle of the month. 



NOTE LXXI. 



CONCERNING THE OATH ADMINISTERED BY GOV. HAM- 
ILTON TO THE CITIZENS OF VINCENNES. 

The oath began : "At Vincennes, this 19th De- 
cember, 1778," and ended, — "In faith of which, we 
sign with our hands, or certify by our ordinary marks, 
the day and month above named, in the year 1778." 
Hamilton, in his letter of Dec. 18-30, gives the day of 
his convening the inhabitants in the church as the 
1 8th, but the date of the oath corrects this; it was the 
19th. 

Notwithstanding the specious words of Hamilton 
to the citizens before the oath was administered, it is 
obvious that it amounted to a compulsion on part of 
the Lieutenant-Governor; and it was a bold assump- 
tion — the claim subsequently put forth — that the in- 
habitants of Vincennes took this oath "of their own 
free will :" "The inhabitants of the town of Vin- 
cennes, who had taken the oath of allegiance to the 
rebels, did, of their own free will, take a solemn oath 
of allegiance to his Majesty, acknowledging that they 
had offended God and man by having deviated from 
their first engagement; that they returned to their 
duty, and would show themselves good subjects in fu- 
ture, praying the clemency of his Majesty and the pro- 
tection of Governor Hamilton." (Schieffelin: Loose 
Notes, Magazine of American History, vol. I, p. 186.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 675 



NOTE LXXIL 

WHY HAMILTON DETERMINED TO WINTER IN 
VINCENNES. 

Hamilton's reasons for wintering in Vincennes are 
set forth (i) in his letter to Haldimand of Dec. 18-30, 
1778; and (2) in that of July 6, 1781. In the last 
letter cited, he says : "The state of our provisions, the 
length of the journey (240 miles) and the want of car- 
riages, added to the nature of the country subject to 
inundations, all combined to direct our determination 
to fortify ourselves here [at Vincennes], and wait for 
reinforcements in the spring." But his estimate of the 
distance from Vincennes to the Illinois (that is, to 
Kaskaskia) was too great by about forty miles. He 
had, doubtless, mistaken the leagues of the French for 
English leagues, as the former always gave the dis- 
tance as "eighty leagues," which would make about 
200 miles. The Lieutenant-Governor gives no reason 
why it would be impracticable to attempt the journey 
by water, doubtless supposing General Haldimand 
would understand fully that he had no means of trans- 
porting five hundred men in that way ; but the Com- 
mander-in-chief did not take this for granted. In 
commenting, afterward, upon Hamilton's letter of the 
i8-30th of December, he says : "On the 6th page, he 
gives reasons for not sending any body this winter to 
the Illinois by water to attack the rebels ; it should be, 
he has no means to go by land" {Remarks on Lieut. 
Gov. Llamilton's Letter. — Haldimand MSS.) It 
will thus be seen that the Commander-in-chief misun- 
derstood Hamilton, The General also niade these 
comments : 



676 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"He [Hamilton] seems to think next spring to at- 
tack the two posts at the Illinois. It is hoped, in that 
case, that he will at least take one of the three pound- 
ers which he got at Vincennes along, so as to make a 
cross-fire, or else the rebels might easily cover them- 
selves against one cannon ; that is, if he expects noth- 
ing but stockades to attack ; otherwise, a six-pounder 
field piece would not be sufficient. . . . Two royal 
mortars would be sufficient if he had more than two 
artillery men." — Haldimand : "Remarks on Lieut. 
Gov. Hamilton's Letter" [of Dec. 18-30, 1778 — Hal- 
dimand MSS.] The Commander-in-chief, in men- 
tioning a six-pounder, referred to the six-pounder field 
piece brought by Hamilton from Detroit. 



NOTE LXXIII. 



BEGINNING AND ENDING OF DE PEYSTER S INSTRUCTIONS 
TO LANGLADE AND GAUTIER. 

The following was the opening paragraph : 
"Gentlemen : — By the orders given me by his Ex- 
cellency, General Haldimand, Commander-in-chief of the 
armies of his Majesty, the King of Great Britain in Canada, 
etc., etc., etc., to do all in my power to assist Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor Hamilton in all his enterprises against the rebels ; and 
since I have been apprised by a letter of the Lieutenant 
Governor that he has gone to dislodge the rebels of the 
Illinois, asking me to give him assistance, you are ordered, 
by these presents to go and try to raise the nations." 

"Given at Fort Michilimaquenac, this 26th day of Octo- 
ber, 1778. "At. S. De Pyster, 

''Major of the King's regiment and Commander of 
the said post and Dependencies. 
"To Capt. Langlade and Lieut. Gautzer." 



I 



/ 

HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE LXXIV. 

NUMBER OF HAMILTON'S SOLDIERS (wHITE) WHEN 

HE OCCUPIED VINCENNES. ALSO AS TO THE 

PRICE OF PROVISIONS THERE AT THAT DATE. 

Of the Royal Artillery, there were, with Hamilton, 
one Heutenant and two rank, and file ; of the Eighth 
regiment, two sergeants and thirty privates ; of Captain 
Lamothe's volunteers, one captain, one lieutenant, 
three sergeants and forty rank and file ; of the Detroit 
volunteer militia, one major, two captains, two lieu- 
tenants, one surgeon, one commissioner of provisions, 
one boat-master, four carpenters, four sergeants and 
sixty-three privates; of the Indian Department be- 
sides Mr. Hay (deputy agent), there were three cap- 
tains, four lieutenants, one commissioner of provisions, 
two interpreters, one store-keeper and six privates : 
total white force, one hundred and seventy-six. 

"Prices of provisions, etc., at Vincennes, Dec. 

1778: 

Budflour per hundred. £6.13.4 

Indian corn per bushel 18 . 8 

Fresh beef per lb 8 

Buffalo do 8 

Pork do 2.8 

Tafia per gallon 3.4.0 

Wine made here do 18 . 8 

Strard per ell 1 . 18 . 8 

Blankets 1-18.8 

Ruffled (Indian) shirts 2.8.0 

Plain do 1.8.0 

Vermilion per lb 1.18.8 

Powder do 13.4 

Ball 4.4." 



678 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE LXXV. 

GEN. HALDIMAND's CRITICISMS ON HAMILTON'S COURSE 
IN VINCENNES. 

''He [Hamilton] intends to send back the militia 
from Detroit, which went with him for the campaign, 
as if he would stay there [at Vincennes]. By his re- 
turn, they amount to 103 men, so that he expects more 
for a reinforcement besides the number to garrison 
Vincennes. He does not say what number will be 
wanted to keep the Indians to their professions." — 
Haldimand. 

But Hamilton did not intend to include in "the vol- 
unteer militia" Lamothe's men, as Haldimand sup- 
posed. The latter were not to be sent back. 

''He [Hamilton] requests the commander-in- 
chief's orders and a person to command [at Vincennes] 
to whom he will resign ; as if he will neither stay at 
Vincennes nor proceed to the Illinois to reduce the 
rebels, which I thought was his design in leaving De- 
troit." — Haldimand. 

Again : "He [Hamilton] seems to want positive 
orders . . . as if he doubted or was ignorant of 
the use that the re-taking of Vincennes could be — as 
if he had been ordered to attack it." — Id. 



NOTE LXXVI. 

CONCERNING HAMILTON'S ULTERIOR DESIGNS. 

It has been extensively published that Hamilton 
had ulterior and much more extensive designs in 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 679 

marching against the IlHnois than to re-capture its 
towns and Vincennes. Thus one writer : 

"Hamilton was methodical in the use of Indians. 
He gave standing rewards for scalps but offered none 
for prisoners. His continuous parties, of Indians and 
white volunteers, spared neither men nor women nor 
children. In the coming year he promised that as 
early as possible all the. different nations, from the 
Chickasaws and Cherokees to the Hurons and Five 
Nations, should join in the expeditions against Vir- 
ginia ; while the lake Indians from Mackinaw, in con- 
junction with white men, agreed to destroy the few 
rebels in Illinois. He sent out detachments to watch 
Ka'skaskia and the falls of the Ohio, and to intercept 
any boats that might venture up that river with sup- 
plies for the rebels. He never doubted his ability to 
reduce all Virginia west of the mountains." [Ban- 
croft: History of the United States (ed. of 1885), 
Vol. v., p. 312.] 

But this idea of the numerous nations of savages 
joining Hamilton against Virginia (meaning that part 
lying to the south-eastward and eastward of Vin- 
cennes but west of the Alleghanies), was only an ex- 
aggeration of the extensive plan of the Southern sav- 
ages mentioned in the text. 

One of Kentucky's early historians says in speak- 
ing of Hamilton's designs, that they were first to re- 
take Kaskaskia ; and next to cut off the inhabitants of 
the Ohio, up to Fort Pitt ; after which he intended to 
desolate the remaining frontiers of Virginia." (Mar- 
shall's Kentucky, Vol. I., p. 69.) 

But this is the outgrowth of what Clark himself 
wrote, hastily and erroneously, on the 29th of April, 
1779. (See note LXXXI, of this Appendix.) 



680 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE LXXVII. 

AS TO THE ATTACHMENT OF THE TOBACCO's SON TO 
CAPT. HELM. 

The following account of the attachment of the 
Tobacco's son to Captain Helm [Clark's Memoir — 
Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 161, 162], is wholly 
without foundation : 

''He [the Tobacco's son] had conceived such an in- 
violable attachment for Captain Helm that, on find- 
ing that the Captain was a prisoner and not being as 
yet able to release him, he declared himself a prisoner 
also. He joined his brother, as he called Captain 
Helm and continually kept with him condoling their 
condition as prisoners in great distress, at the same 
time wanting nothing, that was in the power of the 
garrison to furnish. Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton 
knowing the influence of the Tobacco's son, was ex- 
tremely jealous of his behavior, and took every pains 
to gain him by presents, etc. When anything was 
presented to him, his reply would be that it would 
serve him and his brother to live on. He would not 
enter into council saying that he was a prisoner, and 
had nothing to say; but was in hopes that when the 
grass grew, his brother, the Big Knife, would release 
him, and when he was free he could talk, etc. In 
short, they could do nothing with him." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 681 



NOTE LXXVIII. 

Hamilton's force (white) January 30, 1779. 

Return of the state of His Majesty's Garrison of 
Fort Sackville, 30th of January, 1779: 





t 


•J? 


en 


en 

a 

US 


03 

a 



en 
cd 

OJ 


tn 


i2 
a 

So 

1 


6 

03 

C 

03 

p4 


Indian 
Depart.: 






a 

03 


1— ( 


v4 
P. 


22 

0) 

'0 

> 


s. 

03 

a 


Roval Artillerv 












2 


'I 


30 

84 

5 


'3 


*2 


1 


'3 




King's Resfiment . ... 














Detroit Volunteers .... .... 




1 
1 


1 
1 


1 


i 






Militia 


1 


























3 


Totals 


1 


2 


2 


1 


1 


2 


5 


69 


3 


2 


1 


3 


3 



NOTE LXXIX. 

ILLINOIS COUNTY ESTABLISHED. 

"0« the 19th of November, the letters and papers 
of Clark were read in the Virginia Assembly and 
referred to a committee composed of Thomas Mason, 
George Mason and others, who prepared a bill "for 
establishing a county to include the inhabitants of this 
[Virginia] commonzvealth, on the western side of the 
Ohio River; and for the better government of those 



682 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

inhabitants [the italicising is ours]." (Kate Mason 
Rowland's Life of George Mason, vol. I, p. 307.) 
For the act itself, see Hening's Virginia Statutes at 
Large, vol. IX, p. 552. It was passed between the 
19th of November and the 12th of December, 1778 
— not in October, as generally asserted, although at 
the "October session" of the legislature. 

After giving a brief account of Clark's success, 
in the Illinois and the submission of Vincennes, at the 
instance of Gibault, John Fiske, in , The American 
Revolution (vol. II, p. 106), says: "The territory 
north of the Ohio was thus annexed to Virginia as 
the 'county' of Illinois." But, of course, "the terri- 
tory north of the Ohio" was never annexed to Vir- 
ginia. It came to her, as she claimed, by her charter, 
long before Clark marched against the Illinois. 

The county thus created by Virginia was the only 
one that had then (or that has since) been estab- 
lished in the United States without any boundary. 
This has given rise to many diverse opinions as to 
what was its real territory. 

Mann Butler (History of Kentucky, p. 65), says: 
"Col. Clark having desired the Governor of Virginia 
to appoint a civil commandant, in October, 1778, an 
act was passed establishing the County of Illinois, 
embracing within its boundary all the chartered limits 
of Virginia west of the Ohio river." 

Says E. B. Washburne (The Edward Papers, p. 
73n) : "Before the cession of the Northwestern Ter- 
ritory by Virginia to the United States, in 1784, the 
Virginia Assembly, in 1778, created the country which 
had been conquered by George Rogers Clark into 
the County of Illinois, the mother of all the counties 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 683 

in the five States of Ohio, Indiana, IlHnois, Michi- 
gan, and Wisconsin. . . . This [the County of 
Washington, emhracing the eastern half of the present 
State of Ohio] was the Urst county made out of the 
mother county of lUinois." 

And thus Henry Pirtle : "In October, 1778, the 
county of IlHnois was estabHshed by the General As- 
sembly of Virginia, covering all the territory ['be- 
tween the Ohio and Mississippi river'] and provision 
was made for its protection by reinforcements to the 
army of Clark." (Clark's Campaign in the Illinois^ 

p. S-) 

The views of William Frederick Poole are as 
follows : "The military conquest of the Illinois coun- 
try now being complete, a civil government was forth- 
with established. The Assembly o\f Virginia was 
prompt to act as soon as the capture of Kaskaskia 
was known. In October, 1778, the territory north- 
west of the Ohio was constituted a county of Vir- 
ginia, and was named the county of Illinois." ("The 
West," in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History 
of America, vol. VI, p. 729.) 

Edward G. Mason {Early Chicago and Illinois, p, 
286), writes: "In October, 1778, the general assem- 
bly of Virginia passed 'an act for establishing the 
County of Illinois, and for the more effectual pro- 
tection and defense thereof.' It provides that all 
the citizens of Virginia settled on the western side 
of the Ohio shall be included in a distinct county, to 
be called Illinois County. This practically included 
the whole region afterward known as the North- 
west Territory." 



684 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

The following we find in Kate Mason Rowland's 
Life of George Mason, vol. I, p. 314: 

"It can easily be imagined with what pleasure this 
recital of interesting and heroic adventure [Clark's 
letter to Mason, from Louisville, Nov. 19, 1779] was 
read aloud to the family circle at 'Gunston.' Colonel 
Clark had probably been a frequent visitor there> and 
was regarded with pride and affection by the head of 
the house [that is, by George Mason] who advised 
and counselled his young friend evidently as if he 
were a son. George Rogers Clark was at this time 
about twenty-five [he only lacked a few days of 
being twenty-seven when he dated his letter]. He 
was a native of Albermarle County, but had been for 
several years a resident of Kentucky. Already dis- 
tinguished in the border warfare as well as in the civil 
affairs of his new home, and identified in later life 
with its fortunes, he is claimed as one of the founders 
of this [Kentucky] commonwealth. Kentucky, how- 
ever, was at this time a Virginia County, and it was 
as a Virginian and at the head of two or three 
thousand [less than two hundred] Virginia troops 
that Colonel Clark conquered for his state the new 
county of Illinois, from which five commonwealths 
[Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin] 
were to emerge later. 

A recent writer (Roosevelt: The Winning of the 
West, vol. II, p. 168), declares: 

"The Virginian Government took immediate steps 
to provide for the civil administration of the coun- 
try Clark had conquered. In the fall of 1778 the 
tntire region northwest of the Ohio was constituted 
the countv of Illinois." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 685 

Says Wallace {The History of Illinois and Louisi- 
ana under the French Rule, p. 403) : 

"In October of the latter year [1778], the Vir- 
ginia Legislature erected the conquered territory into 
the county of Illinois." 

And thus G. C. Brodhead in Settlements West of 
the AUeghanys Prior to 1776" — Magazine of Amer- 
ican History, vol. XXIX, p. 337: "In 1778, all the 
territory northwest of the Ohio was formed into one 
county called Illinois." 

Upon the creation of the new county, Governor 
Henry gave the following as part of his instruc- 
tions to Clark (Dec. 12, 1778) : "You are to re- 
tain the command of the troops now at the several 
posts in the county of Illinois. . . . [which 
posts, vv^ith those] on the Wabash ... fall 
within the limits of the county now erected and called 
'Illinois county." It is evident, therefore, that when 
the new county was established, it was understood 
that its jurisdiction extended so as to include the 
Illinois towns and the Peoria as a dependency, with 
Vincennes and Wea upon the Wabash. Nowhere else 
were citizens (actually or constructively such) of Vir- 
ginia, peaceably and lawfully "settled on the western 
side of the Ohio," when the act was passed; hence, 
according to its terms, no persons in the western 
territory outside these towns lived in Illinois county : 
and, it is a well-known fact that, down to the date 
of the cession of the country by Virginia to the United 
States, no Virginians (actually or constructively 
such) were peaceably and lawfully settled anywhere 
"on the western siae of the Ohio" northward of Peoria 
or eastward of Vincennes and Wea. 



686 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

When John Todd took office as Lieutenant oi 
IlHnois county, he understood it included besides ter- 
ritory on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, lands lying 
on the Wabash and Illinois rivers ; but he claimed 
no jurisdiction throughout the entire length of the 
valley of these two streams. [Dillon's Indiana (ed. 
of 1859), p. 168. Mason's Early Chicago and Illinois, 
p. 301.] 



NOTE LXXX. 

RESPECTING VIGO's VISIT TO VINCENNES AND HIS 
RETURN. 

"Vigo was a 'Sardinian.' He was born in 1747, 
at Mondovi. As a Spanish soldier, he was with his 
regiment, first at Havana, and aftervv^ard at New 
Orleans, when that city was under the sway of Spain. 
He left the army and came to St. Louis, becoming 
the partner of Don Francisco de Leyba and was soon 
extensively engaged in the fur-trade." [H. W. Beck- 
with, in Reynold's Illinois (ed. of 1887), p. 423.] 

Mann Butler, who, while writing his History of 
Kentucky, was in communication with Vigo, says (p, 
79) : "After all this success with the Indians, Colonel 
Clark began to entertain great apprehensions for St. 
Vincents [Vincennes] ; no news had been received 
for a considerable length of time from that place, till 
on the 29th of January, 1779, Colonel Vigo, then a 
merchant in partnership with the Governor of St. 
Louis, now [1834] a venerable and highly respectable 
citizen of Vincennes, brought intelligence that Gov- 
ernor Hamilton had marched an expedition from De- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 687 

troit, which had, in December, captured St. Vincents^ 
and again reduced it under the power of the British." 

That January 29th was the day Vigo reached 
Clark there can be no doubt. "Bowman's Journal," 
in the archives of the Department of State, Wash- 
ington — (Letters to Washington," vol. 33, p. 90). 
Clark to Mason — Clark's campaign in the Illinois, p. 
62. Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 137. In "Bow- 
man's Journal," as printed in Clark's Campaign in the 
Illinois, p. 99, the date is given as the 27th, but this is 
error. 

In a letter dated February 3d, written by Clark 
to the Governor of Virginia, he speaks of Vigo's ar- 
rival the day previous {Calendar of Virginia State 
Papers, vol. I, pp. 315, 316) ; but this is explained 
from the circumstance that the letter was in reality, 
written January 30th. Concerning Vigo's visit to 
Vincennes and his subsequent calling on Clark in 
Kaskaskia, the latter says: (I.) "Yesterday, I for- 
tunately got every intelligence that I could wish for 
by a Spanish gentleman who made his escape from 
Mr. Hamilton." (Letter to the Governor of Virginia, 
from Kaskaskia, Feb. 3 [Jan. 30] 1779 — Calendar of 
Virginia State Papers, vol. I, pp. 315, 316). (II.) 
"But, in the light of the hurry, a Spanish merchant, 
who had been at St. Vincennes [Vincennes] arrived 
and gave the following intelligence" (Letter to the 
Governor of Virginia, April 29, 1779, from Kaskas- 
kia — Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222n). (III.) "In 
the hight of our anxiety, on the evening of the 29th 
of January, 1779, Mr. Vigo, a Spanish merchant, ar- 
rived from St. Vincents [Vincennes], and was there at 
the time of its being taken [by Hamilton] and gave 



688 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

me every intelligence I could wish to have." (Letter 
•to Mason, Nov. 19, 1779 — Clark's Campaign in the 
Illinois, pp. 62, 63.) (IV.) ''On the 29th of Jan- 
uary, 1779, in the hight of the hurry, a Spanish mer- 
chant, who had been at Post Vincennes, arrived and 
gave the following intelligence" [Clark's Memoir in 
Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 137]. 

"Bowman's Journal" in the Department of State 
MSS., has this to say of Vigo's arrival and of the 
information he imparted to Clark: "Mr. Vigo, a 
Spanish subject, who had been at Post St. Vincent 
[Vincennes] on his lawful business, arrived [Jan. 
29th, 1779] and gave us intelligence that Gov. Ham- 
ilton and thirty regulars with fifty French volun- 
teers and about four hundred Indians, had come last 
November [December] and taken that fort with Capt. 
Helm and several other Americans, who were there, 
with a number of horses designed for the settlement 
of Kentucky, etc." 

One of Kentucky's early historians says : "While 
he [Clark] was digesting the plan of his future oper- 
ations, he received undoubted information from an 
itinerant Spanish merchant [Vigo], who had recently 
. left St. Vincennes, that Hamilton, reposing himself 
on the security which he derived from the superiority 
of his force, contemplated a leisurely execution of his 
projects." (Marshall: History of Kentucky, vol I, p. 
69.) But Reynolds (see his Pioneer History, p. loi, 
ed. 1887) says Vigo Avas sent to Vincennes by Clark 
as a spy; that he was captured by the Indians and 
taken to Hamilton, who suspected the character of 
his mission; and that he was released on the ground 
of his being a Spanish subject, and having influential 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 689 

friends among the French residents. The only asser- 
tion in all this that is not error (and that one is 
stated inferentially) is, that Vigo had influential 
friends among the French residents. 

In Law's Vincennes (pp. 26-30), there is an ex- 
tended account of Vigo's visit to Vincennes and his 
return, which is replete wifh errors. That writer says : 

'Tt was well known that Governor Abbott, the 
commander here [at Vincennes], at the time of Clark's 
expedition to the Illinois had gone to Detroit on bus- 
iness ; and that no great time would elapse before 
reinforcements would be sent from that post to Vin- 
cennes. Clark could not, even had he desired it, de- 
tailed any of his own command to garrison the place. 
Helm was here, a commandant in name simply, with- 
out a single soldier under his command. From the 
first of August, when M. Gibault returned [from 
Vincennes to Kaskaskia], until the 29th of January, 
1779, Clark had not received a single communication 
from Vincennes. How he obtained it, and the conse- 
quences resulting from the communication, it is now 
may purpose to briefly unfold. . . . 

"With an innate love of liberty, an attachment 
to republican principles, and an ardent sympathy for 
an oppressed people struggling for their rights, he 
[Vigo] overlooked all personal consequences; and 
as soon as he; learnt of Clark's arrival at Kaskaskia, he 
crossed the line — went there and tendered him his 
means, and his influence, both of which were joyfully 
accepted. Knowing Col. Vigo's influence with 
the ancient inhabitants of the country, and desirous 
of obtaining some information from Vincennes, from 
which he had not heard for several months, Col. 
44 



690 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



Clark, in a conference with Col. Vigo, proposed that 
he should come and learn the actual state of affairs at 
the Post [Vincennes]. Col. Vigo did not hesitate 
a moment in obeying this command. With a single 
servant, he proceeded on his journey; and when on 
the river Embarrass, he was seized by a party of 
Indians, plundered of everything he possessed, and 
brought a prisoner before Hamilton, then in posses- 
sion of the place, which, with his troops, he had, a 
short time before, captured, holding Capt. Helm a 
prisoner of war. Being a Spanish subject and con- 
sequently a non-combatant, Governor Hamilton, al- 
though he strongly suspected the motives of his 
[Vigo's] visit, dared not confine him ; he accordingly 
admitted him to his parole, on the single condition, 
that he should daily report himself at the Fort. On 
his frequent visits there, his accurate and discerning 
mind, aided by the most powerful memory I ever 
knew, enabled him early to ascertain the state of the 
garrison, its numerical force, means of defence, posi- 
tion, in fine all the matters necessary to make an 
accurate report, as soon as liberated. Hamilton, in 
the meantime, embarrassed by his detention, besieged 
by the French inhabitants of the town, by whom he 
was beloved, for his release; and finally threatened 
by them, that unless released they would refuse all 
supplies to the garrison, yielded, on condition that 
Col. Vigo would sign an article 'not to do any act 
during the war injurious to the British interests.' 
This he absolutely and positively refused. The matter 
was finally adjusted, on an agreement entered into 
on part of Col. Vigo 'not to do anything injurious 
to the British interests on his zvay to St. Louis/ The 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUUST, ETC. 691 

agreement was signed, and the next day he departed 
in a pirogue down the Wabash and the Ohio, and 
up the Mississippi, with two voyagers accompany- 
ing him. Col. Vigo faithfully and religiously kept the 
very letter of his bond. On his zvay to St. Louis 
he did nothing injurious in the slighest degree to 
British interests. But he had no sooner set his foot 
on shore there, and changed his dress, than in the 
same pirogue he hastened to Kaskaskia." 

Law adds, subsequently (p. 55), more errors: 
"It was entirely through the means of Father Gi- 
bault that Hamilton released Col. Vigo, when sent by 
Clark to ascertain the true situation of affairs at 
Vincennes. He was captured by the Indians and 
taken to 'Fort Sackville,' where he was kept a prisoner 
on parole for many wxeks, and released, entirely by 
the interference of Father Gibault, and the declara- 
tion of the French inhabitants at Vincennes, who, 
with their priest at their head, after service on the 
Sabbath, marched to the fort and informed Hamilton 
'they would refuse all supplies to the garrison unless 
Vigo was released.' " 

The errors of Judge Law to be especially noted 
and guarded against are : ( i ) There were no re- 
inforcements soon ,to be sent from Detroit to Vin- 
cennes after Gov. Abbott's departure. (2) Captain 
Helm was not in command of Fort Sackville without 
a single soldier under him. (3) Vigo did not go to 
Vincennes at the request of Clark — was not sent 
there by the latter. (4) Vigo was not seized by the 
Indians, plundered of everything he had, and then 
taken a prisoner before Hamilton. (5) Vigo was not 
paroled by Hamilton in Vincennes. (6) Hamilton 



692 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

did not release Vigo upon any condition whatever, 
or at the request of any persons — he simply escaped, 
from Vincennes, where Hamilton had detained him 
and on his way to St. Louis called upon Clark at 
Kaskaskia. 

But these errors are somewhat varied by different 
writers "While Clark was still at Kaskaskia Colonel 
Francis Vigo, of St. Louis, a Spanish subject in 
sympathy with the American cause, went to him and 
tendered his services. Clark gladly availed himself 
of the offer, and Colonel Vigo, with a single servant, 
proceeded to Vincennes to learn the strength of that 
post and the possibilities of its capture. As was an- 
ticipated, he was captured, and brought before Gov- 
ernor Hamilton. Being a Spanish subject, he could 
not be held as a spy in the absence of proof. He 
was, however, forbidden to leave the fort ; but finally, 
on giving a written pledge not to attempt anything 
injurious to British interests while on his return to 
St. Louis, he was allowed to depart. Colonel Vigo 
kept his pledge by going to St. Louis without tell- 
ing on the way anything he had learned of the force 
of Hamilton at Vincennes. He however, waited at 
St. Louis only long enough to change his dress and 
then hurried back to Kaskaskia, arriving there the 
29th of January." (Farmer's History of Detroit and 
Michigan, p. 251.) 

"The knowledge which Colonel Clark had of the 
condition or situation of the fort at that place [Vin- 
cennes], obtained through information received from 
Colonel Vigo, sent there for that purpose, enabled 
him [Clark], to act intelligently and to know precisely 
what he would have to contend with [the italicismg 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 693 

is mine]." (John Moses, in Magazine of Western 
History^ vol. Ill, p. 270). 

An Indiana historian, writing at a late date, gives 
this relation: 

"He [Vigo] became acquainted with Clark and 
tendered him his services. Clark requested him to 
go to Vincennes and report from time to time, the 
exact condition of affairs there, for which purpose 
Vigo at once departed, accompanied by one servant. 
At the Embarrass River he was captured by hostile 
Indians, who carried him before Hamilton, then lately 
arrived at the post. For several weeks he was held 
on a parole requirement to report every day at the 
fort, then called Fort Sackville, he having refused 
to accept liberty which was offered him if he would 
agree 'not to do any act during the war injurious 
to the British interests.' Father Gibault,- who was at 
Vincennes, interested himself actively in Vigo's be- 
half, and finally, after services one Sunday morning 
in January, went to the fort at the head of his 
parishioners, and notified Hamilton that they would 
furnish no more supplies to the garrison until Vigo 
was released. Hamilton, having no evidence against 
Vigo, and being desirous of retaining the friendship 
of the villagers, released his prisoner on condition 
that he should 'not do anything injurious to the 
British interests on his way to St. Louis.' Vigo em- 
barked in a pirogue with two voyageurs and sped 
away, down the Wabash, down the Ohio, up the Mis- 
sissippi, until the Illinois settlements were left behind 
and the village of St. Louis was reached. He spent 
a few minutes changing his clothes and obtaining a 
few supplies, and w^as in the boat again; the flying 



694 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



paddles stir the chill waters; he is at Kaskaskia, and 
Clark has minute and exact intelligence concerning all 
matters at Vincennes." (Dunn's Indiana, pp. 139, 
140.) 

In an article by J. C. Wells, entitled, ''Virginia's 
Conquest," printed in the Magazine of American His- 
tory, vol. XVI, there is (pp. 453, 454) an account of 
Vigo's visit to Vincennes and his return. In it are to 
be found condensed most of the errors previously 
published by writers who have essayed to mention 
the subject. 



NOTE LXXXI. 

CLARK^S ERRORS AS TO INFORMATION BROUGHT HIM BY 
VIGO. 

Nearly three months alter Vigo's return from 
Vincennes Clark wrote: 'That gentleman [Lieuten- 
ant Governor Hamilton], with a body of men, pos-. 
sessed himself of that post [Vincennes] on the 15th 
[17th] of December last, repaired the fortifications 
for a repository, and in the spring, mxcant to attack 
this place [Kaskaskia], which he made no doubt of 
carrying; where he was to be joined by two hun- 
dred Indians from Michilimackinac, and five hundred 
Cherokees, Chickasaws, and other nations. With this 
body, he was to penetrate up the Ohio to Fort Pitt, 
sweeping Kentucky on his way, having light brass 
cannon for the purpose — [to be] joined on his march 
by all the Indians that could be got to him. He 
made no doubt he could force all West Augusta. 
This expedition [the one against the Illinois] was 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 695 

ordered by the Commander-in-chief of Canada. ^ . . . 
I ordered Major [Captain] Bowman to evacuate the 
fort at Cohos [Cahokia] and join me immediately, 
which he did." (Clark to the Governor of Vir- 
ginia, April 29, 1779, from Kaskaskia — Jefferson's 
Works, vol. I, p. 222n.) 

Now, the inference to be drawn from this is, that 
the Colonel had been put in possession of the in- 
formation he mentions even before ordering Cap- 
tain Bowman to evacuate Cahokia. But this could not 
have been the fact; nor did he get any such news 
after that event while at Kaskaskia, down to the 
time immediately preceding the arrival of Vigo ; and 
the latter only gave him a portion of these details. 

There is no evidence that Hamilton had determined 
to "penetrate up the Ohio" with the Indians, or that 
he "made no doubt he could force all West Augusta." 
Any determination such as this would, beyond all 
question, have been communicated by the Lieutenant 
Governor to General Haldimand. But he gave the 
Commander-in-chief no intimation of any such design 
on his part, further than that he would like to as- 
semble in the Spring the Indians north and south 
and concert with them a general invasion of the bor- 
der settlements of Virginia and Pennsylvania. And 
Haldimand, in commenting on the news received from 
the Lieutenant Governor at Vincennes makes no men- 
tion of any particular determination of the latter be- 
yond attacking the Illinois. In speaking subsequently 
of Hamilton, the Commander-in-Chief says: 

"He seems to think, next spring, to attack the 
two posts at the Illinois. It is hoped, in that case, 
that he will at least take along one of the three 



696 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

pounders which he got at Vincennes, so as to make a 
cross fire, or else the rebels might easily cover them- 
selves against one cannon ; that is, if he expects noth- 
ing but stockades to attack, otherwise, a six-pounder 
field piece would not be sufficient." "Two royal mor- 
tars," adds the General," would be useful if he had 
more artillery men than two." ("Remarks on Lieu- 
tenant Governor Hamilton's Letter [of Dec. 18-30, 
1778]:" Haldimand MSS.) 

Clark, in his letter to Mason of the nineteenth of 
November, 1779, says : "Governor Hamilton's party 
consisted of about eight hundred men when he took 
possession of that post on the 17th day of December 
past. Finding the season too far spent for his in- 
tention against Kaskaskia, he had sent nearly the 
whole of his Indians out in different parties to war, 
but to embody again as soon as the weather would 
permit and complete his design. He had also sent 
messengers to the Southern Indians, five hundred of 
whom he expected to join him. He had only eighty 
troops in garrison." {Clark's Campaign in the Illi- 
nois, p. 63.) 

The Colonel, as we have seen, was inclined to- 
exaggeration. He indulged in this property occa- 
sionally in this letter, especially, it will be noticed, 
as to the number of the enemy under Hamilton when 
the latter took possession of Vincennes. There is 
no reason to doubt but that Vigo reported a little 
less than five hundred. 

Years after Clark gives Vigo's recital as follows : 
"That the hostile Indians were to meet at Post Vin- 
cennes in the spring, drive us out 'of the Illinois, and 
attack the Kentucky settlements in a body, joined by 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 697 

their southern friends; that all the goods were taken 
from the merchants of Port Vincennes for the King's 
use; that the troops under Hamilton were repairing 
the fort, and expected a reinforcement from Detroit 
in the Spring; that they appeared to have plenty of 
all kinds of stores; that they were strict in their 
discipline, but that he did not believe they were under 
much apprehension of a visit; and believed that, if 
we could get there undiscovered, we might take the 
place. In short, we got every information from this 
gentleman that we could wish for, as he had good 
opportunities and had taken great pains to inform 
himself with a design to give intelligence." [Clark's 
Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 137, 
138.] 



NOTE LXXXII. 

SOME PUBLISHED ERRORS AS TO THE REASONS INDUC- 
ING CLARK TO UNDERTAKE THE CAPTURE OF HAM- 
ILTON IN VINCENNES. 

The American commander in his letter to the Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, of the 29th of April, 1779, ex- 
aggerated the supposed dangers surrounding him: 
"Destruction seemed to hover over us from every 
quarter; detached parties of the enemy were in the 
neighborhood every day, but afraid to attack." (Jef- 
ferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222n.) There was only 
one party — the one under the Ottawa chief — of the 
enemy in the Illinois at this period; and it was only 
from one quarter that "destruction seemed to hover 
over" them. 



698 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"We now viewed ourselves," afterward wrote 
Clark, "in a very critical situation — in a manner cut 
off from any intercourse between us and the United 
States. We knew that Governor Hamilton in the 
Spring, by a junction of his northern and southern 
Indians (which he had prepared for) would be at 
the head of such a force that nothing in this quarter 
could withstand his arms — that Kentucky must im- 
mediately fall; and well if the desolation would end 
there. If we could immediately make our way good 
to Kentucky, we were convinced that before we could 
raise a force even sufficient to save that country, it 
would be too late, as all the men in it, joined by 
the troops we had, would not be sufficient; and to 
get timely succor from the interior countries [of Vir- 
ginia] was out of the question. We saw but one 
alternative, which was to attack the enemy in their 
quarters. If we were fortunate, it would save the 
whole. If otherwise, it would be nothing more than 
what would certainly be the consequence if we should 
not make the attempt. . . . These and many 
other similar reasons, induced us to resolve to at- 
tempt the enterprise, which met with the approbation 
of every individual belonging to us." [Clark's Memoir 
Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 138.] 

But Hamilton had not prepared for a junction 
with his northern and southern Indians. And it is 
evident that what Clark says about making his way 
to Kentucky and his inability to hold that country 
are thoughts conjured up years after. 

"Colonel Clark," says a Western writer, "now be- 
gan to entertain great fears for the safety of Vin- 
cennes. No intelligence had been received from that 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 699 

post for a long time; but on the 29th of January, 
1779, Colonel Vigo brought intelligence that Gover- 
nor Hamilton of Detroit, had marched an expedition 
against the place in December, and again reduced the 
inhabitants and the fort, and re-established the British 
power. The expedition had been fitted out on a large 
scale, with the view of recapturing Kaskaskia, and 
making an assault along the whole line of the Ken- 
tucky frontier. ' But owing to the advanced period 
of the season, Governor Hamilton had postponed the 
further execution of this grand scheme of conquest 
until spring, when he contemplated reassembling his 
forces. 

"Having received this timely intelligence of the 
British governor's designs, Colonel Clark with char- 
acteristic promptitude and decision, determined to 
anticipate him, and strike the first blow. He accord- 
ingly made immediate preparation for an expedition 
against Vincennes." [Collins: History of Kentucky 
(ed. of 1877) p. 138.] 

But it does not appear that Clark, to the moment 
of Vigo's arrival, had given much thought about 
Vincennes; — it was the Illinois he feared was the 
object of Hamilton's movement before reported to 
him as being under way. That Hamilton, in march- 
ing from Detroit, had in view the making of an 
assault along the whole line of the Kentucky bor- 
der is a declaration, as before explained, not war- 
ranted by the words of the Lieutenant Governor be- 
before or after leaving that place. 

"Col. Clark, who kept himself well advised of the 
movements of the enemy, having also learned that 
Major de Peyster at Mackinac, had dispatched Capt. 



700 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Chas.de Langlade to raise a cooperative force of In- 
dians to act with Hamilton at Vincennes or more 
directly by way of the Illinois River, upon Cahokia, 
decided with his accustomed daring and sagacity, not 
to wait for the favorable weather, the want of which 
had delayed the British commander, but to take ad- 
vantage of the absence of the Indians, who were still 
marauding across the Ohio, and become the attack- 
ing party himself." (Moses, in his Illinois: Historical 
and Statistical, vol. I, p. 155, citing, as to De Peyster, 
Magazine of Western History, vol. III.) It is cer- 
tain, however, that when the Colonel resolved to at- 
tack Hamilton in Vincennes he had no knowledge of 
what De Peyster had done at Michilimackinac to aid 
the Lieutenant Governor. 



NOTE LXXXIIL 

CONCERNING THE GUNBOAT WILLING. 

"The boat," wrote Clark in his letter to the Vir- 
ginia Governor, of February 3d, "is to make her way 
if possible and take her station ten leagues below St. 
Vincent [Vincennes] until further orders. If I am 
defeated, she is to join Col. [David] Rogers on the 
Mississippi [of whom mention is made in this 
narrative]. She has great stores of ammunition on 
board, and is commanded by Lieut. John Rogers. 
I shall march across by land with the rest of my 
boys." (Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. 'I, 
p. 316.) 

In his letter of April 29, 1779, Clark says: "I 
immediately dispatched a small galley, which I had 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 701 

fitted up, mounting two four-pounders and four 
swivels, — witli a company of men and necessary 
stores on board, with orders to force her way, if pos- 
sible, and station herself a few miles below the enemy ; 
suffer nothing to pass her and wait for further or- 
ders." {Jefferson's Works, loc. cit.) 

In his Memoir, Clark says : ''We had great de- 
pendence on this galley. She was far superior to 
anything the enemy could fit out without building a 
vessel; and, at the worst, if we were discovered, we 
could build a number of large pirogues, such as they 
possessed, to attend her, and with such a little fleet, 
perhaps, pester the enemy very much ; and if we saw 
it our interest force a landing; at any rate, it would 
be sometime before they could be a match for us on 
the water" [Dillon's Iiidimm (ed. of 1859), p. 139]. 
But all this, it is clear, is a draw on his imagina- 
tion. 

A recent writer has the following concerning 
Clark's sending a part of his force by water: 

"Sending a few boats, with light artillery and 
provisions, to ascend the Ohio and Wabash, Clark 
started overland from Kaskaskia." (Fiske: The 
American Revolution (vol. II, p. 106.) But Clark 
repeatedly declares he only sent one boat ; and all 
other contemporaneous statements which refer to the 
matter, confirm what he says. 

Bancroft's language [History of the United States 
(ed. of 1885), vol. V, p. 313] concerning the com- 
mander of the Willing is calculated to mislead; for 
he speaks of the boat as having been put under the 
command of ^'Captain John Rogers [the italicising is 
mine.]" 



70^ HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE LXXXIV. 

ERRONEOUS TRADITION CONCERNING PROVISIONS TAKEN 
BY CLARK ON HIS MARCH TO VINCENNES. 

A tradition has found its way into print to the 
effect that nothing was taken along as food except 
parched corn and jerked beef (Monnette's History of 
the Valley of the Mississippi, vol. I, p. 427) ; but 
this is clearly erroneous. There was no lack of pro- 
visions in the Illinois towns at that date ; there was 
plenty of flour and other necessaries. The writer just 
cited evidently had no suspicions that horses were 
taken along ; — he not only fills the men's knapsacks 
with parched corn and jerked beef, but these supplies 
were to be carried by the soldiers, not to be taken on 
pack-horses. 



NOTE LXXXV. 

AS TO CLARK^S FORCE WHICH WENT AGAINST 

VINCENNES. 

The idea conveyed in Clark's letter to Governor 
Henry of "Feb. 3" (really Jan. 30) 1779, as printed in 
the Calendar of Virginia State Papers, Vol. L, p. 315, 
is, that the entire force of the Colonel — both those 
which were to go by water and those to march by land 
— would consist of between one hundred and seventy 
and one hundred and eighty men ; but, as a matter of 
fact, Clark raised one entire company of militia — 
Captain Charleville's — after writinsf that letter. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 703 

In "Bowman's Journal" in the Department of 
State MSS., under date of Feb. 5th, it is recorded 
"Raised another Company of Volunteers under the 
command of Capt. Francois Charleville, which added 
to our force, and increased our number to 170, includ- 
ing the artillery [men] and pack-horsemeji." This, as 
to the number of men under Clark, is in the same 
words as printed in Clark's Campaign in the Illinois 
p. .100. The same number is given in Clark's Memoir 
— Dillon's Indiana (ed, of 1859), p. 136.* 

It is evident the force on board the Willing (which 
had already departed) is not included in the number 
mentioned. And Schieffelin, afterward, in his Loose 
Notes, says Clark had 160 men — meaning, probably, 
exclusive of officers, and, certainly not including those 
on the Willing. The whole number, then, "with the 
boat's crew," and including officers, was 218, making 
"a little over two hundred," as stated by the Colonel — 
notwithstanding, in his letter to Gov. Henry, of April 
29, 1779, as printed in Jefferson's Works, Vol. L, p. 
222n, he gives his force that went by land as consist- 
ing of 130 men. 

Clark's words in his letter of "Feb. 3" (really Jan. 
30) are : 

"I shall set out in a few days with all the force I 
can raise of my own troops and a few militia that I can 
depend on amounting in the whole to only [one] hun- 
dred and seventy — men, of which go on board 

^ In Washington-Irving Correspondence, p. 392, the force 
Clark marched with is erroneously put down as 175. So, also, 
in the History of the Girtys, p. 90, where it is said — "with 
a force of one hundred and seventy-six men, he started for 
Vincennes." 



704 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

a small galley fitted out some time ago." The blank 
before "men" indicates that in the Colonel's judgment 
he would have over 170 but less than 180 men all told. 
Of these, a certain number, but he could not tell how 
many, is indicated in the next blanks as being those 
he would send on board the galley. WiUiam Wirt 
Henry, in his Life of Patrick Henry, Vol. III., p. 221, 
omits the first blank, and gives the word *'some" in 
lieu of the two which follow the word *'men." This 
changes the sense materially. 

Lyman C. Draper, in Appleton's Cyclopedia of 
American Biography (art. "George Rogers Clark"), 
says: "[Clark] with fewer than 170 men, all told, 
marched across the country." This conclusion reached 
by Draper is, in reality, without meaning for want of 
definiteness, — "less than 170" might mean 169, or no 
more than 130 as printed in Jefferson's zvorks, Vol. I., 
p. 222n. 



NOTE LXXXVI. 

AS TO THE DISTANCE TO BE TRAVELED • BY CLARK FROM 

KASKASKIA TO VINCENNES ON HIS MARCH 

ACROSS THE COUNTRY. 

Clark had been told by the inhabitants of the Illi- 
nois that it was eighty leagues to Vincennes, which 
was their estimate. The Colonel mistook these for 
English leagues — three miles each, whereas they were 
French leagues, making the distance about one hun- 
dred and ninety-two miles — a six days' journey on 
horseback ordinarily, although parties had been known, 
when hard pressed, to make the distance in four days ; 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 705 

and Clark himself afterwards, it may be premised, 
made it in that time. Of course the trail was by no 
means a "bee line." [See, as to the distance being called 
by the French eighty leagues, Denny's Military Jour- 
nal, (^Memoir of the Historical Society of Pejuisyl- 
vania, Vol. VII.), p. 422.] As to its being an ordi- 
nary six day's journey, see Botiquefs Expedition 
(Cincinnati Reprint: 1868), p. 144. In reckoning the 
distance in miles, the number has been, by English 
writers, usually understood. Compare Denny's Jour- 
nal, pp. 312, 422; Monnette's History of the Valley of 
the Mississippi, Vol. 11. , p. 427. E. A. Bryan, in 
The Magazine of American History, Vol. XXI, p. 401, 
puts the distance traveled by Clark as ''some two hun- 
dred miles." 

. . . ''To the Illinois by land [from Vincennes], 
the road is chiefly through plains and extensive 
meadows — 240 miles . . . The above distances 
are all computed." ("Roads from Detroit to the Illinois 
by way of the Forts Miami, Wea and Vincennes, with 
some Remarks": Haldimand ]\ISS.) And Hamilton 
makes the distance the same in his letters to Haldi- 
mand of D^.Q. 18-30, 1778, and July 6, 1781. But he 
and the itinerary before mentioned undoubtedly con- 
sidered the French estimate — eighty leagues — as 
making two hundred and forty miles. 



45 



706 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 



NOTE LXXXVII. 

SOME ERRORS IN ''bOWMAN's JOURNAL^' AS PRINTED, 

CORRECTED BY THE MS. COPY IN THE 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 

The entry for the I2th of February as printed, 
reads thus : 

"i2th. Marched across Cat plains; saw and killed 
numbers of buffaloes. The road very bad from the 
immense quantity of rain that had fallen. The men 
much fatigued. Encamped on the edge of the woods. 
This plain or meadow being fifteen or more miles 
across, it was late in the night before the baggage and 
troops got together. Now twenty-one miles from St. 
Vincents." 

But in the MS. Journal the entry reads as follows : 
"i2. Marched across Cat plain, [that is, "Cat 
Meadow," or "Cat Prairie.] Saw and killed numbers 
of bufifaloe. The roads very bad from the immense 
quantity of rain that had fallen. The men much fa- 
tigued. Encamped at the edge of the wood, — this 
plain or meadow being fifteen or more miles across. 
It was late in the night before the troops and baggage 
got together. Now 21 leagues from St. Vincents." 
[These were undoubtedly French leagues, making the 
distance -about fifty miles.] 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 707 



NOTE LXXXVIII. 

ROOSEVELT ON THE FEASTS ENJOYED BY CLARK^S MEN 
ON THEIR MARCH TO VINCENNES. 

The author of The Winning of the West (Vol. II, 
pp. 70, 71) says: "He [Clark] encouraged the men 
to hunt game; and to 'feast on it like Indian war- 
dancers' [quoting the Memoir^ each company in turn 
inviting the others to the sm.oking and plentiful ban- 
quets. One day they saw great herds of buffaloes and 
killed many of them. They had no tents ; but at night- 
fall they kindled huge campfires, and spent the even- 
ings merrily round the piles of blazing logs, in hunter 
fashion, feasting on bear's ham and buffalo hump, elk 
saddle, venison haunch, and the breast of the wild 
turkey, some singing of love and the chase and war, 
and others dancing after the manner of the French 
trappers and wood-runners. Thus they kept on, 
marching hard but gleefully and in good spirits." 
. . . Evidently there is here somewhat of a draft 
on the imagination. 



NOTE LXXXIX. > 

PLAN ADOPTED BY CLARK IN CROSSING THE LITTLE W^A- 
BASH AND ITS TRIBUTARY. 

The plan described in the text seems to have been 
the one adopted in crossing the Little Waash and its 
northern affluent, so far as can be judged of from the 
meager accounts given. In his letter to Mason, 
Clark says ; 



708 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

'*In three days, we contrived to cross by building a 
large canoe — ferried across the two channels — the 
rest of the way, we waded, building scaffolds at each 
[channel] to lodge our baggage on until the horses 
crossed to take it. It rained nearly a third of our 
march, but we never halted for it." 



NOTE XC. 

CONCERNING CLARK's ROUTE FROM KASKASKIA TO THE 
EMBARRASS RIVER. 

There is a trail laid down on, A New Map of the 
Western Parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania^ Maryland, 
and North Carolina, by Thomas Hutchins, London, 
1778, as a "Road from Kaskaskia Village to Post 
Vincient." This may have been followed as far as 
the Embarrass river by Clark, but no farther. On 
Blanchard's Historical Map of Illinois, "Clark's 
Route" is laid down even to Vincennes. It is, how- 
ever, wholly unreliable. The first knozvn point reached 
after leaving Kaskaskia is when the Little Wabash and 
its northern tributary was crossed, a short distance 
above their confluence, in the southeast part of the 
present Clay county, Illinois. The course thence to 
the Embarrass, it is certain, was nearly on a line to- 
wards Vincennes. The direction then taken will here- 
after be considered. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 709 



NOTE XCI. 

ESCAPE OF CAPT. WILLIAM s's BROTHER FROM FORT 
SACKVILLE. 

"Bowman's Journal" as printed — Clark's Cam- 
paign in the Illinois, p. 102 — says it was Captain 
Willing's brother who made his escape from Fort 
Sackville ; but this is manifestly an error — either of 
.the types or of the copyist; and the language of the 
same in the Department of State MSS., makes the 
correction, by giving the name as Williams — Captain 
Williams's brother. But the words of the latter im- 
mediately following, are apt to mislead unless rightly 
considered. The sentence stands thus : "Captain 
William's brother (who was taken in the fort) had 
made his escape also to us." But he was not taken 
in the fort ; and his having made his escape "to us" 
means, to the Americans — not directly to Clark's 
force. 



NOTE XCII. 



FICTITIOUS ACCOUNTS AS TO THE METHODS OF CLARK 
TO RAISE THE COURAGE OF HIS MEN. 

What the favorite song was that Clark's men in- 
dulged in is unknown. The following tradition con- 
cerning songs sung by the drummer of the force is 
certainly amusing: 

"Part of the force . . . went by boat, but all 
of them really went by water. Daily rains made the 



710 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

journey more and more disagreeable, yet nothing 
could dampen the ardor of the troops. The drummer 
of the party was a jovial little Irishman, with a rich 
voice and a memory well stored with comic songs, all 
of them full of the 'Begone-dull-care' spirit that ani- 
mates the natives of Erin's Isle. When the men were 
wading through mud and water, Colonel Clark would 
seat the drummer on his drurn, on which he floated and 
sang, keeping up the spirits of his men with his lively 
melodies." (Farmer's History of Detroit and Mich- 
igan, p. 252.) But Law (in his Vincennes, p. 32n) 
gives the account, it seems, first of any in print, and as 
follows : 

"Without food, benumbed with cold, up to their 
waists in water covered with broken ice, the men com- 
posing Clark's troops at one time mutinied, refused to 
march. All the persuasions of Clark had no effect on 
the half-starved and half-frozen soldiers. In one of 
the companies was a small boy who acted as drummer. 
In the same company was a sergeant, standing six feet 
two inches in his stockings, — stout, athletic, and de- 
voted to Clark. Finding that his eloquence had no 
effect upon the men, in persuading them to continue 
their line of march, Clark mounted the little drummer 
on the shoulders of the stalwart sergeant, and gave or- 
ders to him to plunge into the half-frozen water. He 
did so, the little drummer beating the charge from his 
lofty perch, while Clark, with sword in hand, followed 
them giving the command, as he threw aside the float- 
ing ice — 'Forward !' Elated and amused with the 
scene, the men promptly obeyed, holding their rifles 
above their heads and in spite of all obstacles, reached 
the higher land beyond them safely." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. Ill 



NOTE XCIII. 

Clark's condensed statement of his march from 
kaskaskia to warriors^ island. 

A condensed statement of the march from Kas- 
kaskia to Warriors' Island as given by Clark in his 
letter of April 29, 1779, to the Governor of Virginia 
is as follows : 

"Although so small a body, it took me sixteen days 
on the route. The inclemency of the season, high 
waters, etc., seemed to threaten the loss of the expedi- 
tion. When within three leagues of the enemy, in a 
direct line, it took us five days to cross the drowned 
lands of the Wabash river, having to wade often, up- 
wards of two leagues, to our breast in water. Had not 
the weather been warm, we must have perished. But, 
on the evening of the 23d, we got on dry land, in sight 
of the enemy." 



NOTE XCIV. 

CONCERNING THE DETACHMENT OF LIEUT. BAYLEY. 

Clark, in his letter to Mason — Clark's Campaign 
in the Illinois, p. 68 — says : *T detached Lieutenant 
Bayley and a party to attack the fort at a certain sig- 
nal, and I took possession of the strongest posts of the 
town with the main body." But Clark's Journal (in 
the Haldimand MSS.) makes it evident that no signal 
was to be waited for. The word "posts" is a misprint ; 
it should be "parts." 



712 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Both ''Bowman's Journal" in the Department of 
State MSS. and the printed one say Bayley had four- 
teen regulars with him, and Clark's Memoir — Dil- 
lon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), P- 14^, says the same; but 
the Colonel, in his Journal, mentions fifteen riflemen, 
and I have followed his statement. It is evident the 
men detached were not of the Kaskaskia or Cahokia 
volunteers. 



NOTE XCV. 

CONCERNING CLARK's ENTRY INTO VINCENNES. 

Captain Chesne, who had not before heard of the 
coming of the Americans, was, it is to be presumed, 
considerably frightened, as he saw but one flag — a 
white one — and heard but one drum. And thus Ban- 
croft [History of the United States (ed.of 1885), Vol. 
v., p. 313), who evidently sees with Chesne's eyes: 

"On the twenty-third, just at evening, Clark and 
his companions reached dry land, and, making no de- 
lay, with a white .flag flying, they entered Vincennes." 

"Bowman's Journal" as printed — Clark's Cam- 
paign, in the Illinois (p. 105) — gives the time of the 
Colonel's arrival as mentioned in the text ; so, also, the 
one in the Department of State. But the wording of 
the . former is, — "After wading to the edge of the 
water breast high, we mounted the rising ground the 
town is built on, about 8 o'clock;" while the latter 
says : "After wading to the edge of the town in water 
breast high, we mounted the rising ground the town is 
built on about 8 o'clock." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 713 

The Colonel (in his Journal) says he entered the 
upper end of the town. This is error and is corrected 
by Chesne. Clark in his Memoir — Dillon's Indiana 
(ed. of 1859), P- 148, says, substantially, that the main 
body did not enter the town in the same place as that 
by Lieut. Bayley with his detachment. 

"This [the march of Clark from Kaskaskia to Vin- 
cennes] was one of the most wonderful of the military 
expeditions recorded in our history, and paralleled only 
by that of Arnold from the Kennebec to the Chau- 
diere, in the late Autumn of 1775. For a week Clark 
and his followers traversed the 'drow^ned lands' of 
Illinois, suffering every privation from wet, cold and 
hunger. When they arrived at the Little Wabash, at 
a point where the forks of that stream are three miles 
apart, they found the intervening space covered with 
water to the depth of three feet. The points of dry 
land were five miles apart and all that distance, the 
hardy soldiers of the West, in the month of February, 
waded the cold snow-flood in the forest, arm-pit deep ! 
It seemed to the people and soldiers at Vincennes, 
when their men [Clark's force] their faces blackened 
to hideousness by gunpowder, suddenly appeared as if 
they had dropped from the clouds. It was impossible, 
they thought, that these soldiers would [could] have 
traversed the country a hundred miles from the Ohio 
river." (Benson J. Lossing, in The American Histo- 
rical Record, Vol. IL, p. 62n..) Clark blacked his 
face (also a few others did the same) on the 21st of 
February, with gunpowder, at the same time giving 
the war whoop. It was only a specimen of back- 
woods bravado to urge on his men. The powder 
quickly disappeared from their faces. 



714 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE XCVI. 

A FICTION CONCERNING CLARK's APPEARANCE IN 
VINCENNES. 

Butler, in speaking of Clark's letter to the inhab- 
itants of Vincennes, says: "Seldom has frank notice 
been given to an enemy and choice afforded to retire to 
his friends ; it was resorted to in hopes that its impos- 
ing character would add to the confidence of our 
[Clark's] friends and increase the dismay of our 
[Clark's] enemies. So much did it operate in this way 
that the expedition was believed to be from Kentucky ; 
it was thought utterly impossible that, in the condition 
of the waters, it could be from the Illinois. This idea 
was confirmed by several messengers [sent] under the 
assumed name of gentlemen known to have been in 
Kentucky, to their acquaintances in St. Vincents [Vin- 
cennes] ; nor would the presence of Clark be credited 
until his person was pointed out by one who knew 
him (History of Kentucky, p. 83). This tradition (for 
it is evidently only a tradition), it is certain is wholly 
fictitious. 



NOTE XCVII. 

CONCERNING THE APPLE-TODDY FICTION. 

A rediculous tradition — one that has not a 
shadow of foundation to build on — has found its way 
into history, to the effect that while Helm was a pris- 
oner and playing at piquet with Hamilton in the fort, 
one of Clark's men requested leave of his commander 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 715 

to shoot at the Captain's headquarters, so soon as they 
were discovered, to knock down the clay or mortar 
into his apple-toddy, which he was sure that officer, 
from his well-known fondness for that fine liquor, 
would have on his hearth; that the soldier got leave 
to fire at the place he desired; and that when Helm 
heard the bullets rattling about the chimney, he jumped 
up and swore it was Clark, who would make all the 
garrison prisoners, though the rascals had no business 
to spoil his toddy. 

The first publication of this fiction was in these 
words : 

"There is an amusing anecdote connected with the 
siege, illustrative of the frank and fearless spirit of 
the times ; that while Helm was a prisoner and playing 
at piquet with Governor Hamilton in the fort, one of 
Clark's men requested leave of his commander to shoot 
at Helm's quarters, so soon as they_ were discovered, 
to knock down the clay or the mortar into his apple- 
toddy, which he was sure the captain from his well- 
known fondness for that fine liquor would have on 
his hearth. It is added that when the Captain heard 
the bullets rattling about the chimney, he jumped up 
and swore it was Clark, and he would make them all 
prisoners though the d — d rascals had no business to 
spoil his toddy." Louisville Directory, p. 97. It is 
added that when Helm made this exclamation about 
Clark, Governor Hamilton asked, Ts he a merciful 
man?' It seems an intelligence was kept up betweeii 
Helm and Clark through the medium of Henry's wife, 
who lived in the town and who had free access to her 
husband in the fort. Helm cautioned the British sol- 
diers against looking out at the port holes, 'for/ said 



716 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

he, 'Clark's men will shoot your eyes out;' it accord- 
ingly happened that one was shot through the eye, in 
attempting to look out, when Helm exclaimed, 'I told 
you so.' " (From a letter of Edmund Rogers cited by 
Butler in his Kentucky, p. 84n.) 



NOTE XCVIII. 
AS TO Clark's supply of powder on reaching 

VINCENNES. 

Schieffelin, in his Loose Nofes^ Magazine of Amer- 
ican History, vol. I, p. 187 — gives a second-hand re- 
port, which recites that "a Mr. Le Gras, a Major of 
militia, Vvdth other inhabitants, . . . met the reb- 
els some distance from the town, furnishing them with 
ammunition, provisions, etc., — the rebels having dam- 
aged all theirs by the long route through the floods of 
water from Kaskaskia to the town." This erroneous 
report is afterwards made the basis for a positive dec- 
laration by Hamilton [in his letter to Haldimand of 
July 6, 1781, (Germain MSS.)] that Colonel Clark 
was supplied by the inhabitants of Vincennes with 
powder, "his own to the last ounce, being damaged on 
the march." 

But none of the citizens of Vincennes marched out 
to meet Clark; and the detaching of Lieutenant Bay- 
ley, before the Colonel himself had reached the town, 
to fire on the fort, shows they had powder fit for im- 
mediate use. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 717 



NOTE XCIX. 

OF THE TREATMENT ACCORDED CAPT. FRANCIS MAISON— 
VILLE. 

In Schieffelin's Loose Notes — Magazine of 
American History, vol. I, p. i88 — and in Hamilton's 
letter to Haldimand of July 6, 1781 (Germain MSS.), 
accounts are given of the treatment meted out to Mai- 
sonville by the "rebels :" the former declaring he was 
finally saved, after numberless solicitations, by the Illi- 
nois volunteers in the "rebel" service; while the latter 
says it was by a "rebel" brother. Clark's only mention 
of the treatment received by Maisonville is in his Me- 
moir- — Dillon's Indiana, (ed. of 1859), p. 151, where 
he gives this account: "A few of his [Lamothe's] 
party were taken, one of which was Maisonville, a 
famous Indian partisan. Two lads that captured him, 
tied .him to a post in the street, and fought from be- 
hind him as a breastwork, — supposing that the enemy 
would not fire at them for fear of killing him, as he 
would alarm them by his voice. The lads were or- 
dered by an officer who discovered them at their 
amusement, to untie their prisoner, and take him off 
to the guard, which they did, but were so inhuman 
as to take part of his scalp on the way. There hap- 
pened to him no other damage." While little confi- 
dence can be put in this relation, still less can be placed 
in the declaration of Hamilton that the prisoner was 
partially scalped by. Clark's order. Schieffelin says 
(loc. cit.) : "They [the Americans] had the inhu- 
manity to scalp him, after the repeated orders for so 
doing from Colonel Clark." 



718 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE C. 

WHAT '"bowman's JOURNAL^' SAYS CONCERNING HAM- 
ILTON'S PROPOSALS BROUGHT TO CLARK BY CAPT. 
HELM FROM FORT SACKVILLE. 

The proposals as printed vary from those in the 
MS. copy of "Bowman's Journal." The word "prom- 
ises" is given as "proposes ;" the words "that he 
wishes" are, "that is, he wishes ;" the words "further 
proposes" read "promises ;" "remain a secret" have the 
word "a" omitted ; "finally concluded" are rendered 
"finished ;" and "before the gate" are given as, "by the 
gate." As printed in Clark's Memoir [Dillon's Indi- 
ana (ed. of 1859), p. 153] the word "promises" is 
retained; but in all the residue, the two printed ver- 
sions are identical. The words which end them ("If 
Colonel Clark makes a difficulty of coming into the 
fort, Lieutenant Governor Hamilton will speak to .him 
by the gate") refer back, it will be noticed, to the first 
proposals sent out by Hamilton and confirm the state- 
ment as to Helm's first appearance, made by Clark in 
his Journal, under date of Feb. 24, 1779 — in the Hal- 
dimand MSS. Besides, in the Journal last mentioned, 
the Colonel, in speaking of Hamilton's proposition for 
a three days' truce and cessation from offensive work, 
etc., expressly calls them the "second proposals" of the 
Lieutenant Governor. 

The proposals in "Bowman's Journal" in the De- 
partment of State MSS. are dated ("24th Feby, 
i779")» but Hamilton's name is not signed to them; 
in Clark's Journal they are also dated, but are signed 
"H. H." In "Bowman's Journal" as printed and in 
Clark's Memoir, both the date and name are appended. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 719 



NOTE CI. 

AMERICAN AND BRITISH ACCOUNTS AS TO THE FATE OF 

A WAR PARTY ON ITS RETURN FROM THE FALLS OF 

THE OHIO TO VINCENNES. 

(i.) American Accounts. 

'This moment received intelligence that a party 
of Indians were coming up from the Falls [of the 
Ohio] with prisoners or scalps, which party was sent 
out by Governor Hamilton for that purpose [i. e., to 
take prisoners or scalps]. My people [meaning his sol- 
diers] were so enraged that they immediately inter- 
cepted the party, which consisted of eight Indians and 
a Frenchman of the garrison. They killed three on 
the spot and brought four in who were tomahawked 
in the street opposite the fort gate and thrown into the 
river. The Frenchman we showed mercy, as his 
aged father had behaved so well in my party. I re- 
lieved the two poor prisoners, who were French hunt- 
ers on the Ohio." (Clark's Journal — entry of the 
24th Feb., 1779 — Haldimand MSS.) 

"Bowman's Journal" gives this relation of the mat- 
ter: 

"... A party of Indians [came] down the 
hills behind the town, who had been sent by Gov. 
Hamilton to get some scalps and prisoners from the 
Falls of Ohio. Our men having got news of it, pur- 
sued them, killed two on the spot, wounded three, took 
six prisoners [and] brought them into town. Two of 
them proving to be white men that they had taken 
prisoners, we released them, and brought the Indians 
to the main street before the fort gate, there toma- 



720 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

hawked them and threw them into the river." [De- 
partment of the State MSS. The Journal as printed 
(Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 107) has substan- 
tially the same account. 

Clark to Governor Henry of April 29th, has the 
following : 'Tn the height of this action, an Indian 
party that had been to war and taken two prisoners, 
came in, not knowing of us. Hearing of them, I dis- 
patched a party to give them battle in the commons, 
and got nine of them, with . . . two prisoners, 
who proved to be Frenchmen." (Jefferson's Works, 
Vol. I., p. 222n.) 

Clark's account of the affair in his letter to Mason 
contains additional particulars : "Some time before, a 
party of warriors sent by Mr. Hamilton against Ken- 
tucky, had taken two prisoners. [This party] was dis- 
covered by the Kickapoos, who gave information of 
them. A party was immediately detached to meet 
them, which happened in the commons. They con- 
ceived our troops to be a force sent by Mr. Hamilton 
to conduct them in, an honor commonly paid them. I 
was highly pleased to see each party whooping, halloo- 
ing and striking their breasts, as they approached in 
the open fields. Each seemed to try to outdo the other 
in the greatest signs of joy. The poor devils never 
discovered their mistake until it was too late for many 
of them to escape. Six of them were made prisoners, 
two of them scalped, and the rest so wounded as we 
afterwards learned that but one lived. I had now as 
fair opportunity of making an impression on the In- 
dians as I could have wished for, — that of convinc- 
ing them that Governor Hamilton could not give them 
that protection he had made them to believe he could, 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 721 

and in some measure to incense them against him for 
not exerting himself to save their friends : I ordered 
the prisoners to be tomahawked in face of the garri- 
son. It had the effect that I expected. Instead of it 
making their friends inveterate against us, they up- 
braided the EngHsh parties in not trying to save them ; 
and they gave them to understand that they beheved 
them to be bars and no warriors. 

''A remarkable circumstance happened that I think 
worthy our notice : An old French gent of the name of 
St. Croix, lieutenant of Capt. McCarty's volunteers 
from Cahokia, had but one son, who headed these In- 
dians and was made prisoner. The question was put 
whether the white man should be saved. I ordered 
them [Clark's men] to put him to death through indig- 
nation which did not extend to the savages. For fear 
he would make his escape, his father drew his sword 
and stood by him in order to run him through in case 
he should stir; being painted he could not know him. 
The wretch, on seeing the executioner's tomahawk 
raised to give the fatal stroke, raised his eyes as if 
making his last address to Heaven [and] cried, — 'O, 
save me.' The father knew his son's voice [and] you 
may easily guess of the agitation and behavior of these 
two persons, coming to the knowledge of each other at 
so critical a moment. I had a little mercy for such 
murderers, and so valuable an opportunity for an ex- 
ample, knowing that there would be the greatest solic- 
itations made to save him, that I immediately ab- 
sconded myself ; but by the warmest solicitations from 
his father who had behaved so exceedingly well in our 
service, and [from] some of the officers, I granted his 

46 



722 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

life on certain conditions." (Clark's Campaign in the 
Illinois, pp. y^i^, 74. 

(2.) British Accounts. 

Isidore Chesne, in his Account, says that he first 
heard that seven Indians (the}- were Ottawas) had 
been killed. Afterward, he was told that only five 
were shot down. He then adds : 

"The Indians who were killed had just returned 
from war, — had made two prisoners at the fort at the 
Falls of the Ohio, and not knowing the enemy [Ameri- 
cans] were in the village [Vincennes], were there sur- 
prised and killed." (From the Haldimand MSS.) 

Schieffelin (Loose Notes. Magazine of American 
History, Vol. I, pp. 191, 192) gives, from the British 
side, this rueful picture : 

"At the time our flag was sent out from Fort Sackville, 
an Indian party who had been on a scout returned — the 
rebels with the inhabitants of the town ran to meet them. 
The Indians not being apprized of the town having joined 
the rebels, imagined they came to salute them, when, to their 
great misfortune, after they had discharged their pieces in the 
air, as a salute to them, were fired at by the rebels and cit- 
izens, several killed on the domaine in sight of our fort, 
others [were] brought in [and] kicked by them ; [then] they 
marched through the streets [having their prisoners with 
them., including] two Indian partizans — Frenchmen in 
His Majesty's service. [All] were [then] seated [that 
is, all the captured] in a circle when Colonel Clark, the com- 
mandant of the rebels, took a tomahawk and in cool blood 
knocked their [the Indians'] brains out, dipping his hands 
in their blood, [then] rubbing it [them] several times on his 
cheeks, yelping as a savage. The two Frenchmen, who were 
to share the same unhappy fate, were sergeants in the Detroit 
volunteers, and were saved from this bloody massacre, one 
by his father, who was an officer with the rebels, [who] did 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. ns 

not know his son until they informed [him] that he was in 
the circle in Indian dress and [that he was] to undergo this 
cruelty exercised by the Americans ; the other was taken by 
force by his sister, whose husband was a merchant in the town. 
This is also a treatment unprecedented even between savages, 
— to commit hostilities at the time a flag is sent them. 

"The dead carcasses of these unhappy fellows were 
dragged to the river by the soldiery, some who had been 
struggling for life after 1 ,-ng thrown into the river. An In- 
dian chief of the name of Muckeydemengo, of the Ottawa 
nation, after Colonel Clark had struck the hatchet into his 
head, with his own hands drew his tomahawk [out] present- 
ing it again to the inhuman butcher, who repeated the stroke. 
After the Governor and his officers were put on parole in the 
town, they- had seen the blood on the ground of these unhappy 
men, for a considerable time. The dead bodies who [which] 
were on the domaine of those they fired at, were stripped 
naked and left for the wild prey." (A Reprint from the Royal 
Gazette.) 

''Before anything was concluded [as to the sur- 
render of Fort Sackville]," afterwards wrote Hamil- 
ton to Haldimand, "the following scene was exhibited, 
of which I give your Excellency a relation, as it serves 
to contrast the behavior of His Majesty's subjects with 
that of the rebels so often celebrated for humanity, 
generosity, and, indeed, every thing virtuous and no- 
ble : 

''About two o'clock in the afternoon [of the twen- 
ty-fourth] a party of Indians with some whites re- 
turned from a scout, with two Canadians whom they 
had taken prisoners near the Falls of the Ohio, prob- 
ably with information for the rebels at the fort [there]. 
Colonel Clark sent oflf a detachment of seventy men 
against them. The Indians numbered fifteen or six- 
teen men, who, seeing the English flag 'flying at the 
fort, discharged their pieces — an usual compliment 



724 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

with those people. They were immediately fired upon 
by the rebels and Canadians, two killed on the spot, 
one shot in the belly, who, however, escaped. The 
rest were surrounded and taken, bound, to the village, 
where, being set in the street opposite the fort gate 
they, were put to death, notwithstanding a truce at 
that moment existed. 

'The manner as related to me by different people 
and among others by the man at whose door this ex- 
ecrable feat was perpetrated, was, was as follows: 

''One of them was tomahawked immediately. The 
rest, setting on the ground in a ring bound, seeing, by 
the fate of their comrade, what they had to expect, the 
next on his left sang his death-song, and was in turn 
tomahawked. The others underwent the same fate. 
Only one was saved, and he at the intercession of a 
rebel officer, who pleaded for him, telling Colonel 
Clark that the savage's father had formerly spared his 
fife." 

"The chief of this party," continues the Lieutenant- 
Governor, "after having the hatchet stuck in his head, 
took it out' himself and delivered it to the inhuman 
monster who struck him first, who repeated his stroke 
a second and a third time ; after which, the miserable 
savage was dragged by the rope about his neck to the 
river, thrown in, and suffered to spend still a few mo- 
ments of life in fruitless struggling." (Hamilton to 
Haldimand, July 6, 1781. — Germain MSS.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 725 



NOTE CII. 

CONCERNING THE SECOND MEETING OF CLARK WITH 
HAMILTON. 

It is clear that when Hamilton "went to meet them 
with Major Hay," he went from the fort, to which he 
had returned. This then was the second meeting, and 
was evidently held at the church where the first one 
was held. Hamilton, however, in his letter to Haldi- 
mand of July 6, 1781, erroneously says the first meet- 
ing was at the place he lastly proposed. These are his 
words : 

"Colonel Clark, yet reeking with the blood of those 
unhappy victims [the Indians tomahaw^ked in view of 
the British garrison and then thrown into the river], 
came to the esplanade before the fort gate where I had 
agreed to meet him and treat of the surrender of the 
garrison." 

He spoke with rapture, of his late achievement, 
while he washed the blood from his hands, stained in 
this inhuman sacrifice." [The italicising is mine.] 



NOTE cm. 

FINAL ARTICLES OF CAPITULATION AGREED UPON. 

The wording of the articles of Capitulation, as 
given by Clark in his Journal, is as follows : 

"ist. L't. Gov'r. Hamilton engages to deliver up 
to Col. Clark Fort Sackville as it is at present, with 
all the stores, ammunition, provisions, etc., etc. 



726 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

''2d. The garrison will deliver themselves up pris- 
oners of war to march out with their arms, accoutre- 
ments, knapsacks, etc. 

"3d. The garrison to be delivered up to-morrow 
morning at 10 o'clock. 

"4th. Three days to be allowed to the garrison to 
settle their accounts with the traders of this place and 
inhabitants. 

''5th. The officers of the garrison to be allowed 
their necessary baggage, etc. 

"G. R. Clark. 

"Post Vincent, 24th Feb'y., 1779." 

Hamilton, in his letter to Haldimand of July 6, 
1 781, says the Articles he agreed to were his own, 
which had been changed by Clark, This is true as 
will be seen by comparing them. The Lieutenant- 
Governor also gives the Articles in full. He must, 
therefore, have copied them before sending them back ; 
but, in so doing, he made some unimportant variations. 
Walker (The North-west during the Revolution, p. 
22) says that "the unique correspondence between the 
comparatively illiterate backwoodsman [Clark] and 
the proud British officer [Hamilton] . . . is in the 
possession of Mr. [Lyman C] Draper [of Madison, 
Wisconsin]." This is published with the approval of 
the latter ; but, as a matter of fact, he never had in his 
possession all of this correspondence. Draper was not 
the possessor of what was actually sent to Hamilton 
inside the fort by Clark — only copies of it in the 
hand-writing of the latter, except the Articles of Ca- 
pitulation finally agreed upon. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 727 



NOTE CIV. 
SOME OF Hamilton's reasons for surrendering fort 

SACKVILLE. 

In his letter to Haldimand of July 6, 1781, Hamil- 
ton says : "Half our number [the Canadian volun- 
teers] had shown their poltroonerie and treason; and 
our wounded must be left at the mercy of a merciless 
set of bandits." But it is certain not one of his Cana- 
dian allies had committed any act of treason ; — they, as 
the Lieutenant-Governor expressly declares, only said : 
"It was very hard to be obliged to fight against their 
countrymen and relatives, who they now perceived had 
joined the Americans." 

Tw^o years afterward (that is, in 1783), Hamilton, 
forgetting what he had written to Haldimand, de- 
clares : 

''In the month of February . . they [the peo- 
ple of Vincennes] joined the Americans and fired on 
the fort. The Canadian volunteers, who made half of 
my little garrison, deserted, and we were reduced to 
the horrid necessity of capitulation." {Hamilton to 
Corn's of His Majesty's Treasury, 178^, MSS.) This 
was certainly a falsification ; not a single Canadian de- 
serted. 

Schieffelin, in his Loose Notes, dismisses the sub- 
ject with a few words : "No way was left us to get 
ofif — the provisions exhausted; — these [this] obhged 
us to agree to a capitulation and surrender to a set of 
uncivilized Virginian woodmen, armed with rifles." 



728 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE CV. 

AS TO THE ACCIDENTAL BLOWING UP OF THE CART- 
RIDGES IN FORT SACKVILLE. 

[Ante. Chap. XIX., p. 332.] 

Schieffelin mentions the casualty (in his Loose 
Notes) thus: "The Rebel Major with some Captains, 
showing their dexterity in firing cannon as a salute for 
the day, were blown up by the explosion of a keg of 
cannon cartridges." 

Says Butler {History of Kentucky, pp. 86, 87) : 
"This capitulation on the 24th of February, 1779, sur- 
rendered Fort Sackville to the Americans ; the garri- 
son was to be considered as prisoners of war. On the 
25th, it was taken possession of by Colonel Clark at 
the head of the companies of Captains Williams and 
Witherington, while Captains Bowman and McCarty 
received the prisoners ; the stars and stripes were again 
hoisted, and thirteen cannon fired to celebrate the re- 
covery of this most important stronghold upon the In- 
dian frontier." Evidently Butler did not know that 
the accident cut short the salute. 

Capt. Worthington's name is spelled "Withering- 
ton" by Butler, as will be noticed by the above extract, 
and in one place in "Bowman's Journal" (Department 
of State MSS.), it appears as "Wertherington ;" how- 
ever, it is afterward given there as "Worthington" and- 
is so spelled in the printed Journal (Clark's Campaign 
in the Illinois, p. 108). See also the work last cited 
p. 65 ; and Clark to the Gov. of Virginia — Calendar of 
Virginia State Papers, Vol. L, pp. 315, 316. Besides, 
Clark's Journal has "Worthington" : and it has al- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 729 

ready been explained that the Captain was from Ken- 
tucky ; — there he was known as ''Worthington." 



NOTE CVI. 

CONCERNING THE ATTACK ON FORT SACKVILLE AND ITS 
SURRENDER. 

''On viewing the strength of the fort [after the ca- 
pitulation] Colonel Clark was astonished at its easy 
surrender; but on reflection was convinced that it 
could have been undermined, as the fort was within 
thirty feet of the river bank. If even that attempt had 
failed his information was so exact that on the arrival 
of his artillery, the first hot shot could have blown up 
the magazine." (Butler, in his History of Kentucky, 
p. 87.) But this is all speculation on part of the Ken- 
tucky historian. 

As to there being only seventy-nine prisoners taken 
when the fort surrendered, it may be said it is highly 
probable that when Lieut. Bayley began firing on the 
fortification a few of the garrison were outside among 
the Vincennes people. It has already been shown 
how 'Maisonville and his companion also St. Croix 
and another were captured ; and it is possible there 
were still out one or two war-parties headed by white 
men. In Hamilton's Return of January 30, he enum- 
erates, in all, ninety-five white men as constituting his 
force. This leaves sixteen to be accounted for that 
were not in the fort when it surrendered; but, from 
what has just been said, it is not difficult to make up 



730 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST^ ETC. 

the number missing. One of those who escaped was 
Captain Chesne, as already noted. 

Of the niany fictions concerning the success of 
Clark at Vincennes which have been printed, the fol- 
lowing is among the most prominent : 

"I have myself been informed by some of the 'ancient 
inhabitants' of the Post [Vincennes] long since gathered to 
their fathers, but who were old enough at the time of Clark's 
capture of the Post, to recollect the circumstances attending 
it, that after the surrender, the English flag was kept flying, 
and that from the large stores of clothing on hand, Clark 
dressed some of his men in red, the uniform of the British 
soldiers, and placing a sentry with British uniform at the gate 
of the fort, after directing the French inhabitants to give no 
information of the surrender, awaited the arrival of the In- 
dians, who were on one of their murderous forays to the 
south side of the Ohio, and were to return to Vincennes to 
join Hamilton in his meditated campaign in the Illinois, for 
the purpose of attacking Clark and his troops at Kaskaskia. 
Sullen and silent, with the scalp-lock of his victims hanging 
at his girdle, and in full expectation of his reward from 
Hamilton, the unwary savage, unconscious of danger, and 
wholly ignorant of the change that had been effected in his 
absence, passed the supposed British sentry at the gate of the 
fort, without inquiry or molestation. But the moment he had 
entered a volley from the rifles of a platoon of Clark's men, 
drawn up and awaiting his coming, pierced their hearts, and 
sent the unconscious savage reeking with murder, to that tri- 
bunal to which he had so frequently, by order of Hamilton, 
sent his American captives, from the infant in the cradle to 
the grandfather of the family, tottering with age and infirmity. 
It zvas a just retribution, and few men but Clark would have 
planned the ruie, or carried it out so successfully. It is re- 
ported that upwards of fifty Indians met this fate within the 
walls of Tort Sackville' after its surrender by Hamilton." 
(Law: The Colonial History of Vincennes, pp. Q'^, 69.) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 731 

When, after the lapse of years, Clark attempts to 
describe all the circumstances attending the capitula- 
tion, from the moment of the first meeting between 
himself and Hamilton to the time of the final surren- 
der, he confuses his relation in various ways. *'We 
met at the church," he says, ''about eighty yards from 
the fort — Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton, Major Hay 
(Superintendent of Indian Affairs) Captain Helm 
(their prisoner), Major Bowman and myself. The 
conference began." But it had commenced before 
that — when onl}^ Helm was present beside the two 
commanders. Clark then says: ''Hamilton produced 
terms of capitulation signed, that contained various ar- 
ticles, one of which was that the garrison should be 
surrendered on their being permitted to go to Pensa- 
cola on parole." But this was the last meeting; and 
the article mentioned does not specify they were to be 
allowed to go to Pensacola, although that place un- 
doubtedly was understood to be the objective point. 
The narration continues : "After deliberating on 
every article, I rejected the whole. He [Hamilton] 
then wished that I would make some proposition. I 
told him I had no other to make than what I had al- 
ready made — that of his surrendering as prisoners 
at discretion. I said that his troops had behaved with 
spirit ; that they could not suppose that they would be 
worse treated in consequence of it ; that if he chose to 
comply with the demand, though hard, perhaps the 
sooner the better ; that it was in vain to make any 
proposition to me ; that he by this time must be sensi- 
ble that the garrison would fall that both of us must 
[view] all blood spilt for the future, by the garrison, 
as murder ; that my troops were already impatient and 



732 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

called aloud for permission to tear down and storm 
the fort: if such a step was taken many, of course, 
would be cut down, and the result of an enraged body 
of woodsmen breaking in must be obvious to him : it 
would be out of the power of an American officer to 
save a single man." That much of this is a draft on 
the imagination of the relater, is self-evident. 

'^Various altercations took place," are the further 
words of Clark, ''for a considerable time. Captain 
Helm attempted to moderate our fixed determination. 
I told him he was a British prisoner, and it was doubt- 
ful whether or not he could with propriety speak on 
the subject. Hamilton then said that Captain Helm 
was from that moment liberated and might use his 
pleasure. I informed the Captain that I would not 
receive him on such terms ; that he must return to the 
garrison and await his fate. I then told Lieutenant- 
Governor Hamilton that hostilities should not com- 
mence until five minutes after the drums gave the 
alarm." 

"We took our leave," Clark continues, "and' parted 
but a few steps when Hamilton stopped and politely 
asked me if I would be so kind as to give him my rea- 
sons for refusing the garrison on any other terms than 
those I had offered. I told him I had no objections 
in giving him my real reasons, which were simply 
these : that I knew the greater part of the principal 
Indian partisans of Detroit were with him; that I 
wanted an excuse to put them to death or otherwise 
treat them as I thought proper; that the cries of the 
widows and fatherless on the frontiers, which they had 
occasioned, now required their blood from my hands ; 
and that I did not choose to be so timorous as to dis- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 733 



obey the absolute commands of their authority which 1 
looked upon to be next to divine : that I would rather 
lose fifty men than not to empower myself to execute 
this piece of business with propriety : that if he chose 
to risk the massacre of his garrison for their sakes it 
was his own pleasure : and that I might, perhaps, take 
it into my head to send for some of those widows to 
see it executed." But it is plain, when this is com- 
pared with what the Colonel noted down at the time 
the conversation took place, that quite all of it has no 
foundation in fact. What he adds is of the same char- 
acter : 

"Major Hay, paying great attention, I had ob- 
served a kind of distrust in his countenance which in a 
great measure influenced my conversation during this 
time. On my concluding, — Tray, Sir,' said he, 'who 
is it that you call Indian partisans?' 'Sir,' I repUed, 
'I take Major Hay to be one of the principal.' I 
never saw a man in the moment of execution so struck 
as he appeared to be — pale and trembling, scarcely 
able to stand. Hamilton blushed, and I observed was 
much affected at his behavior. Major Bowman's 
countenance sufficiently explained his disdain for the 
one and his sorrow for the other. . . Some mo- 
ments elapsed without a word passing on either side. 
From that moment my resolutions changed respecting 
Hamilton's situation. I told him that we would re- 
turn to our respective posts; that I would reconsider 
the matter and let him know the result ; no offensive 
measures should be taken in the meantime. Agreed 
to, and we parted. What had passed being made 
known to our officers, it was agreed that we should 



734 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

moderate our resolutions." [Clark's Memoir — Dil- 
lon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 154-156.] 

"The British commander," says a recent writer, 
"has left on record his bitter mortification at having to 
yield the fort [Sackville] 'to a set of uncivilized Vir- 
ginia woodsmen armed with rifles.' In truth, it was a 
most notable achievement. Clark had taken, without 
artillery, a heavy stockade, protected by cannon and 
swivels, and garrisoned by trained soldiers. His su- 
periority in numbers was very far from being in itself 
sufficient to bring about the result, as witness the al- 
most invariable success with which the similar but 
smaller Kentucky forts, unprovided with artillery and 
held by fewer men, were defended against much 
larger forces than Clark's. Much credit belongs to 
Clark's men, but most belongs to their leader. The 
boldness of his plan and the resolute skill with which 
he followed it out, his perseverance through the in- 
tense hardships of the midwinter march, the address 
with which he kept the French and Indians neutral, 
and the masterful way in which he controlled his own 
troops, together with the ability and courage he dis- 
played in the actual attack, combined to make his feat 
the most memorable of all the deeds done west of the 
Alleghanies in the Revolutionary war." But the 
achievement greatly redounds to the credit of Clark and 
his men without crediting to their side (Roosevelt; 
The Winning of the West, Vol. II., pp. 84, 85.) what 
is not in reality due them. Very little protection did 
the cannon and swivels give Hamilton and his men. 
Clark's superiority in numbers certainly aided in 
bringing about the surrender — as much (if not more) 
because of the superiority alone as by the effect pro- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 735 



duced by the shots of so many assailants. The men- 
tion made of "the almost invariable success with which 
the similar but smaller Kentucky forts, unprovided 
with artillery and held by fewer men, were defended 
against much larger forces than Clark's" is not rele- 
vant to the attack under consideration. The Ken- 
tucky forts were, to a large extent, unlike Fort Sack- 
ville — being, in fact, much weaker; but, when as- 
sailed, the besiegers were, in all cases where artillery 
was not employed, almost entirely savages. As to the 
neutrality of the French and Indians in Vincennes 
during the siege — there was none in reality ; all were 
on the side of the Americans in their feelings ; and if 
but few were active against Hamilton, it was not for 
want of interest on their part in the Colonel and his sol- 
diers, but because of the refusal of the American com- 
mander to allow them to come to his assistance. 

The writer just cited adds: "It [the capture of 
Hamilton and his fort] was likewise the most important 
in its results, for had he [Clark] been defeated we would 
not only have lost the Illinois, but in all probability 
Kentucky also." Seemingly, this would have been the 
case ; but, as to war movements, little weight is to be 
given to assertions as to what would have taken place 
had certain events happened. Such sUght causes 
sometimes in military affairs produce such unexpected 
results, that conjecture seems but a waste of words. 



736 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE CVII. 

CAPT. HELM^S CAPTURE OF ST. MARTIN''s CONVOY 
AT WEA. 

Clark, in his letter to Gov. Henry, of April 29, 
1777, says: "Hearing of a convoy of goods from De- 
troit, I sent a party of sixty men, in armed boats, well 
mounted with swivels, to meet them before they could 
receive any intelligence" (Jefferson's Works, vol. I, 
p. 224n). The Colonel evidently includes officers and 
men, and, speaking from recollection, makes his state- 
ment in round numbers. So, also, in Dillon's Indiana 
(ed. of 1859), p. 157, it is said: "On the day after the 
surrender of the British garrison at Post Vincennes, 
Colonel Clark sent a detachment of sixty men up the 
river Wabash to intercept some boats which were 
laden with provisions and goods from Detroit. The 
detachment under the command of Captain Helm, 
Major [Captain] Bosseron and Major Legras, pro- 
ceeded up the river in three armed boats." 

"The day before Captain Helm (an American 
officer who commanded the party sent to take the con- 
voy) arrived at Ouiatanon [Wea], Mr. Dejean heard 
that we had fallen into the hands of the rebels." 
(Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781 — Germain 
MSS.) The inference then is, that the American 
officer ascended the Wabash as far as Wea; and the 
words of the Lieutenant Governor make it probable 
that it was there the Captain met the convoy. Clark, 
in his letter to the Virginia Governor of April 29, 
1779, {Jeiferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222n), says the 
distance above Vincennes was forty leagues — one 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 737 

hundred and twenty miles. But Jefferson to Lernoult, 
July 22, 1779 {Calendar of Virginia State Papers, 
vol. I, p. 321), puts the distance at 150 miles, and this 
agrees very nearly with the estimated distance, from 
Vincennes to Wea, made in Bouquet's Expedition, 
(Cincinnati Re-print: 1868) p. 144, of 60 French 
leagues, or 144 English miles. As it appears certain 
that Capt. Helm went as far up the Wabash as Wea, 
and as the latter place was above the mouth of the 
Vermillion, a tradition that it was at that river where 
the convoy was captured (which tradition has been 
published) must fall to the ground.* 

In his letter to Mason, Clark's Campaign in the 
Illinois, p. 75 — the Colonel says : "Captain Helm, with 
a party in armed boats . . made prisoners of fifty, 
among whom was Dejean, Grand Judge of Detroit, 
with a large packet . . . and seven boat loads of 
provisions ; Indian goods, etc." 

"Bowman's Journal" (in the Department of State 
MSS.) for ]\Iarch 5th, says: "About 10 o'clock Cap- 
tain Helm arrived with his party. [They] took seven 
boats laden with provision, bale-goods, etc. . . from 
the enemv, with the following prisoners : Mr. Dejean, 
Grand Judge of Detroit, Mr. Adhemar (Commissary), 
with thirty-eight privates. Letters taken from the 

* "The writer has before him the statement of John Mc- 
Fall, born near Vincennes in 1798. He lived near and in 
Vincennes until 1817. His grandfather, Ralph Mattison, was 
one of Clark's soldiers who accompanied Helm's expedition 
up the Wabash, and he often told McFall, his grandson, that 
the British were lying by, in the Vermilhon river, near its 
mouth, where they were surprised in the night-time and 
captured by Helm without firing a shot." (H. W. Beckwith 
& Son in the History of Vermillion County [111,], p. 259 n.) 

47 



738 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Commissary, dated at Detroit, the 6th of February, 
say they [the writers] are much afraid of our people 
in the Spring. [They] pray Gov. Hamilton to come 
back again." 

Dillon (History of Indiana, pp. 157, 158) says: 
"These boats [those captured from the British] . . 
were manned by about forty men, among whom was 
Philip Dejean, a magistrate of Detroit." This is cal- 
culated to convey the impression that Dejean helped 
to man the boats, which is probably error. 

"Before Clark's arrival [at Vincennes, February 
23, 1779], Hamilton had sent Philip Dejean [from 
Vincennes] to Detroit for supplies, and on February 9, 
he and Mr. x-\dheimer set out [from Detroit] with 
seven boats loaded with goods, worth $50,000. Clark 
was informed of their approach, and sent sixty men 
to intercept the boats, which, with their stores, were 
captured on the 26th as they were coming down the 
Wabash." (Farmer's History of Detroit and Michi- 
gan, p. 252.) But Dejean, as already shown, was not 
in Vincennes and could not therefore have been sent 
to Detroit, and Adhemar was only to go as far as 
the head of the Maumee. Clark was not informed 
of the approach of the boats, but only that Hamilton 
had sent for the goods ; besides, the boats could not 
have been captured on the 26th of February, as that 
was the day the party left Vincennes to intercept 
them. 

In speaking of the stores taken by Captain Helm, 
Clark says in his Memoir that "The provisions were 
taken for the public, and the goods divided among the 
whole, except about iSoo worth to clothe the troops 
we expected to receive in a short time, This was very' 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 739 

agreeable to the soldiers, as I told them the State 
should pay them in money their proportions [in addi- 
tion], and they had great plenty of goods." (Dillon's 
Indiana (ed. of 1859, p. 158.) And Clark adds (pp. 
158, 159) : "The quantity of public goods brought from 
Detroit added to the whole of those belonging to the 
traders of Post Vincennes that had been taken, was 
very considerable. The whole was divided among the 
soldiery, except some Indian medals that were kept, 
in order to be altered for public use. The officers 
received nothing, except a few articles of clothing they 
stood in need of. The soldiers got almost rich." 

On one point in this relation, Clark's memory was 
at fault;. for it will be seen hereafter that some of the 
goods were sent to the Illinois and disposed of as 
public stores by the Colonel. "The whole," then, was 
not divided among the men and officers, "except about 
i8oo worth," as declared in his Memoir. 



NOTE CVIII. 



Clark's threat to iron those British officers 
who had acted as partisans with the 

INDIANS. 

If Colonel Clark really had irons made to fetter 
such of his prisoners as were officers and had been 
employed as partisans with the Indians, he did not 
carry out his determination. None were ironed. 
Schieflfelin in his Loose Notes gives additional words 
spoken by the American commander: "At dark 
[after the capitulation] the Britibh officers were in 



740 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

the Governor's house, in the garrison, where Colonel 
Clark used most harsh and insolent expressions, wish- 
ing he could have swum in their blood ; that, as he 
desired to fight, he would give Governor Hamilton 
his garrison [back] and he [Clark], with an equal 
number of men, would meet them ; that he had young 
fellows that liked the smell of gun powder." {Maga- 
zine of Aincrican History, vol. I, p. 187.) 

But, it is evident, if such talk was indulged in by 
the Colonel (which yet may be doubted), it was mere 
bravado, only intended to intimidate. 



NOTE CIX. 



AS TO CLARK S TREATMENT OF HAMILTON WHILE 
HOLDING HIM A PRISONER OF WAR. 

*'We have," says William Frederick Poole LL. D. 
{The Early Northwest, pp. 11-13), "no life of George 
Rogers Clark, or full history of the stirring events in 
which he was an actor. The notices of his life which 
have appeared in print are full of inaccuracies. . . 
The "Calendar of Virginia State Papers," and "Haldi- 
mand Collection" at Ottawa, bring out many facts 
supplementing his own [now] printed reports. In the 
"Haldimand Collection" is the official report of Henry 
Hamilton, Governor of Detroit, on his campaign and 
his capture by Col. Clark at Vincennes, Ind., in 1779. 
This report gives us, from the British [rather from 
Hamilton's] standpoint, the facts we have needed con- 
cerning that important event. On the whole it con- 
firms the accuracy of Clark's several narratives. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 741 

Clark regarded Hamilton as responsible for the in- 
humanities committed upon the Western settlers by 
the Indian scalping parties sent out from Detroit; 
and hence Clark called him "the Hair-buying General," 
and treated him with great severity. . . . Hamilton in 
his report defends himself from the charge. He ad- 
mits that he sent out the Indian parties ; but states 
that he was very careful to give the savages instruc- 
tions not to scalp their captives ; and he was confident 
that they obeyed his instructions, because some pris- 
oners were brought in. He states that he engaged 
in this sort of warfare with great reluctance, and then 
only on Lord George Germain's positive instructions. 
(The report of Governor Hamilton is printed in 
Michigan Pioneer Collections, IX, pp. 489-516)." 

"The story," continues 'Mr. Poole, "of the butcher- 
ies practised upon the Western settlements, during the 
Revolutionary war, by Indian scouting parties sent 
out from Detroit, can hardly be exaggerated. To 
avenge these inhumanities was a leading motive of 
Clark and. his men in making that winter campaign 
against the "Hair-buying General" at Vincennes. 
The policy of the British government in its conduct 
of the war in the West is a subject which will repay 
investigations ; and Gov. Hamilton's defense and his 
scheme of giving wild savages Sunday-school instruc- 
tion in the humanities, can then be considered. What 
those many gross of 'red-handled scalping knives' 
(Farmer's 'History of Detroit,' pp. 246, 247) were 
for, which regularly appeared in the official requisi- 
tions of merchandise wanted at Detroit, can then be 
explained." 



742 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

A careful examination of the stories told by both 
Hamilton and Clark of the capitulation of the former 
and of his being a prisoner to the latter, does not con- 
firm the usual report of harsh treatment of the Lieu- 
tenant-Governor by the Colonel. Clark's declaration 
in after years is this : ''Almost every man had con- 
ceived a favorable opinion of Lieutenant Governor 
Hamilton — I believe what affected myself made some 
impression on the whole — and I was happy to find 
that he never deviated, while he stayed with us, from 
that dignity of conduct that became an officer in his 
situation." [Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. 
of 1859), p. 157.] 

Again : it can hardly be said, in the light of all 
cotemporaneous evidence which has been preserved, 
that Clark's winter campaign against the "Hair-buy- 
ing General," at Vincennes, was to avenge the inhu- 
manities charged against him. The leading idea of 
Clark was one of self-preservation : "I must take him 
or he will take me." 



NOTE ex. 

NUMBER OF PRISONERS SENT EAST AND OF THE SOLDIERS 
WHO GUARDED THEM. 

If the eighteen privates mentioned in "Bowman's 
Journal" be added to the officers named (including 
also St. Martin), the whole number of prisoners sent 
off to the Virginia settlements east of the mountains 
by Clark is seen to be twenty-seven. This corresponds 
with Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781 — Germain 
MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 743 

As to the number of the guard, Hamilton's recol- 
lection, after a lapse of over two years, is not to be 
relied on. He says, ''our guard . . . consisted 
of 23 persons, including officers." I have followed 
"Bowman's Journal" which gives twenty-five men 
exclusive of the two officers, Williams and Rogers. 

Schieifelin, in his Loose Notes, says they started 
on March 4th. In his letter to Haldimand, of July 
6, 1 78 1, Hamilton gives the date as the 8th. But 
here, also, I have followed "Bowman's Journal," which 
says it was the 7th, the record of their departure 
having been made on the day they left. It is evi- 
dent that Hamilton had miscalculated the time, as a 
letter written by him on the day of leaving is dated 
the 8th. . . The names given in the printed copy 
of "Bowmna's Journal" {Clark's Campaign in the 
IIlinGis, p. 109) of such of the prisoners as were not 
privates are mentioned thus (excepting of course, St. 
Martin's name) : "Lieut. Gov. Hamilton, Major Hays, 
Capt. Lamoth, Mons. Dejean, Grand Judge of Detroit, 
Lieut. Shifflin, Doct. McBeth, Francis McVille, Mr. 
Bell Fenilb." 

In the MS. copy of the Journal in the Department 
of State, the names are written as follow: "Lieut. 
Governor Hamilton, Major Hay, Capt. Lamotte, Mon- 
sieur Dejean, Grand Judge of Detroit, Lieut. Shifflin, 
Doct. McBeth, Francis Masonville, Mr. Bellfeuill." 

^ The correct spelling of the sir names of each of 
these officers including also the Commissary is given 
in the text. 



744 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE CXI. 

MARCH OF THE BRITISH PRISONERS FROM THE FALLS 
OF THE OHIO TO CHESTERFIELD COURT HOUSE. 

Concerning this march the words of Lieutenant 
Schieffehn in his Loose Notes are: 

"In the morning they [Lieutenant Governor Hamil- 
ton and his fellow prisoners] were marched under a 
heavy guard to Henry Town [Harrodstown; that is, 
Harrodsburg] one hundred miles through woods, etc., 
on foot with their necessaries and provisions; the 
eighth day they reached the fort [at Harrodsburg] 
commanded by a Colonel [John] Bowman, who treated 
them as well as his abilities would admit; they re- 
mained about ten days, when they were marched for 
the frontiers of Virginia, depending on providence for 
provisions, insulted by every dirty fellow as they 
passed through the country. In May, they got to 
Chesterfield Court House, where they were kept to its 
limits under a strong guard." 



NOTE CXII. 

JOHN DODGE AND HIS NARRATIVE. 

It is evident from the Report of the Virginia Coun- 
cil that it had been placed in possession of Dodge's 
whole story. The Board gives in brief the treatment 
he received upon his first imprisonment in Detroit; it 
recites what he told them about the giving of standing 
rewards for scalps but ofifering none for prisoners; it 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 745 

relates how an unfortunate victim, after being rescued 
from the savages, who were preparing to burn him, 
was afterward hunted down, imprisoned, and virtually 
tortured to death by Dejean by "perpetual assurance" 
of being restored into the hands of the savages" ; and 
other information : all of which is set forth at greater 
length in Dodge's Narrative [See Remembrancer, vol. 

VIII (1779)- J 

Andrew McFarland Davis in his paper, "The In- 
dians and the Border Warfare of the Revolution" 
(Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, 
vol. VI, p. 683), says: 

"The narrative of the Capture and treatment of 
John Dodge by the English at Detroit was made pub- 
lic about the same time [as the Report of the Vir- 
ginia Council, in the 'Case of Hamilton, Dejean and 
Lamothe'], {Remembrancer viii, p. 73). The portion 
of Dodge's story which relates to the reception by 
Hamilton of Indians returning with scalps and pris- 
oners, bears a striking resemblance to the report of the 
[Virginia] Council. Dodge states that Hamilton be- 
came so enraged at him that the governor 'offered £100 
for his, scalp or his body.' In another place he says: 
These sons of Britain offered no reward for prisoners, 
but they give the Indians twenty dollars a scalp," etc., 
etc. ; and again : "One of these parties returning with 
a number of women and children's scalps and their 
prisoners, they were met by the commandant of the 
fort, and after the usual demonstrations of joy, de- 
livered their scalps, for which they were paid.' 

"Some correspondence passed between Jefferson 
and the governor of Detroit [in reality, Lernoult, the 
commandant of the fort], on the question of Hamil- 



746 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

ton's treatment as a prisoner, in which Jefferson dwells 
at length upon Hamilton's responsibility for the acts 
of the Indians, but it is to be remarked that no charge 
is made against Hamilton for paying bounties for 
scalps {Calendar of State Papers of Virginia, i, p. 
321).'; 

Hamilton in his Official Report speaks of Dodge 
as a person "known by several Virginians to be an 
unprincipled and perjured renegade.'' Lieutenant 
Schieffelin, in his Loose Notes, is equally severe: 

''One John Dodge, a blacksmith, who resided at 
Detroit but who now resides with the rebels at Fort 
Pitt, had the assurance to propagate the most infamous 
falsehoods against Governor Hamilton and his officers, 
— that they had excited Indians to kill prisoners when 
brought to Detroit, furnishing the rebel authorities 
with a narrative of his treatment which was as false 
as himself was infamous." 

The Continental Journal and Weekly Advertiser, 
of December 20, 1779; and of January 6, and 13, 1780, 
in publishing Dodge's Narrative, has this editorial 
addendum : 

"It is worthy of remark that the three persons who 
make a principal inglorious figure in the foregoing 
Narrative, viz., Governor Hamilton, Dejean (jailer), 
and La Mote (captain of scalping parties), were after- 
wards taken by the brave Colonel Clark, of Virginia, 
at Fort St. Vincent, and are nov/ confined in irons, 
in a gaol in Virginia, by order of the Legislature of 
that State, as a retaliation for their former inhuman 
treatment of prisoners who fell into their hands, par- 
ticularly Mr. Dodge, who has the pleasing consolation 
of viewing his savage adversaries in a similar predica- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 747 

ment with himself when in their power — tho' 'tis not 
in the breast of generous Americans to treat them with 
equal barbarity." 

At the date, however, of the publication of the 
Narrative by the Continental Journal, the three pris- 
oners, it may be premised, were no longer in irons. 

The second letter written. by Dodge at Pittsburgh 
was in these words : 

"Pittsburgh, Sept. 18th, 1779. 

"Dear Sir : — After being sent to Quebec a prisoner, I 
found means to make my escape from there last Winter. I 
just arrived "from Williamsburg where I had the opportunity 
of seeing Mr. Hamilton, Dejean, and Lamothe in irons in the 
dungeon, and there they are to remain untill the War is 
ended; they were put there for the usage they gave me at 
Detroit. 

"Our army has met with great success this year as well 
as last. Our officers and soldiers are in great spirits. 

"Spain has declared war against England and joined their 
fleets to the French. Count D'Estang has taken several of 
the most valuable Islands that the English had in their 
possession. 

"I enclose to you a proclamation from the French Ad- 
miral and Embassador. Mendart Fisher and Elbert Gavorot 
are here and in good spirits. We expect to see you this 
winter. 

"I would recommend to the Commandant at Detroit to 
be careful how he uses the friends of the United States as 
he may happen to be called to an account as well as Hamilton. 
I am with great respect, etc., 

"John Dodge. 

"To Philip Boyle, Sandusky." 



748 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE CXIII. 

HOW Hamilton's ''official report'' (Hamilton to 
Haldimand, July 6, 1781 — Germain MSS.) 

CAME TO BE WRITTEN. 

"Yesterday," says Hamilton, "being the fifth of 
July, [1781] I had the honor of paying my respects to 
Lord George Germain. His Lordship was pleased to 
attend to the account I gave of my ill success and the 
treatment we experienced from the rebels, from the day 
of our being made prisoners of war — the twenty-fifth 
of February, 1779 — to the fourth of March, 1781, 
when we were totally out of their power, by a final 
exchange. Having mentioned to his Lordship that 
I had preserved a diary of transactions, he directed 
me to commit to paper a brief account and transmit 
the same to your Excellency. 

"In obedience to his Lordship's orders, I shall en- 
deavor to avoid detail, and supply as well as may be 
the want of such papers as were siezed by order of 
the rebel Governor, Mr. Jefferson, on our being thrown 
into the dungeon at Williamsburg. Some things pre- 
vious to the arrival of your Excellency at Quebec, it 
may be proper slightly to mention." 

[Then follows a lengthy statement, by the Lieu- 
tenant Governor, of the principal points in his career, 
from the day of his arrival in Detroit to the time of 
his reaching England after his captivity. It is really 
a very complete Official Report. At the conclusion, 
the following is added :] 

"Thus, Sir, I have attempted to give your Excel- 
lency some account of my unfortunate failure, with 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 749 

the causes of it, which while I lament I must attribute 
chiefly, if not entirely, to the treachery of persons whom 
I had reason to expect lenity and moderation would 
have gained, and whose interest it was to be faithful. 

"Among those to be raised for this service, there 
was but little choice, the arts of some rebel emmisaries, 
and the intrigues of persons still attached to the in- 
terest of France, got the better of the good intentions 
the Canadians might have set out with. 

"The difficulties and danger of Colonel Clark's 
march from the Illinois were such as required great 
courage to encounter, and great perseverance to over- 
come. 

"In trusting to traitors he was more fortunate 
than myself ; whether, on the whole, he was entitled 
to success is not for me to determine. If my conduct 
appears to your Excellency in a justifiable light, I 
may hope to be more pitied than blamed ; at least 
your approbation will enable me to support the weight 
of that censure which seldom fails to accompany an 
unsuccessful enterprise. 

"I have the honor to be, with profound respect, 
"Sir," Your Excellency's most devoted, most obedient 
and most humble Servant, 

"Henry Hamilton. 

"Jermvn Street, London, 

"July 6th 1781." 

In vol. IX of the Michigan Pioneer Collections 
(pp. 489-516), this "Official Report" is printed from 
a copy taken from another copy in the Ottawa (Can- 
ada) Archives. By comparing what is thus printed 
with the MS. before me from the Germain Collection, 
I note the following (among other) variations: 



750 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Page 489. For "the Prisoners and general," read "the 
prisoners, a general." 

Page 489. "For "an ill success," read "our ill success." 

Page 490. For "Warrior," read "warriors." 

Page 490. For "of future peace urged it," read "of a 
future peace urged, if." 

Page 491. After third paragraph, insert — "On the Uth 
I had accounts of your Excellency's arrival at Quebec." 

Page 491. For "Having received," read "Having re- 
viewed." 

Page 491. For "Lieutenant Howe [Showd ?]," read 
"Lieutenant Showd." 

Page 495. For "of complaint," read "for complaint." 

Page 495. For "ourselves in this post where we had 
those," read "a post in this place where we had these." 

Page 497. For "Capt. Blomer," read "Capt. Blowser." 

Page 497. For "without having taken," read "without 
taking. ' 

Page 498. After the words "being finished," insert "ex- 
cept the living of the stockade." 

Page 500. For "spirit of the," read "spirit and courage 

After "virtuous," insert "elevated." 

For "Mr. Maisonville's," read "Mr. Maison- 

For "his situation," read "his intention." 

For "agreed to them," read "agreed to the 

For "our present," read "the present." 

"For "was found on," read "was to be found 

For "with arms," read "with their arms." 

For "ten o'clock," read "two o'clock." 

After "ration," insert "for ten days only." 

For "a cover," read "a tilt." 

For "my journey," read "the journey." 

For "known on the 27th," read "known here 

For "of escaping," read "of our escaping." 
For "different times," read "different places." 



of 


the. 




Page 501. 




Page 501. 


vii: 


le." 




Page 502. 




Page 503. 


conditions." 




Page 503. 




Page 503. 


in.' 


" 




Page 504. 




Page 504. 




Page 506. 




Page 506. 




Page 506. 




Page 507. 


on 


the 29th." 




Page 507. 




Page 507. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 751 

Page 507. For "General Reidevel," read "General 
Reidesel." 

Page 507. For "of the the march," read "of our march." 
Page 509. For "now been," read "now lain." 
Page 509. For "our treatment," read "our ill treatment." 
Page 510. For "these publications," read "their publi- 
cations." 

Page 510. For "disengenious," read "disengenuous." 
Page 511. For "1778," read "1779." 

Page 512. For "Governor of Virginia," read "Governor 
of the Commonwealth of Virginia." 

Page 512. For "assertions," read "asseverations." 
Page 512. For "windows," read "window." 
Page 513. Put a period after "destroyed himself" ; and 
then begin a new paragraph. 

Page 513. For "King Williams," read "King William." 
Page 513. For 'the country," read "the county." 
Page 513. For "practicable," read "possible." 
Page 513. For "the parole," read "a parole." 
Page 513. For "successor," read "successors." 
Page 514. For "charter" (twice), read "cartel." 
Page 514. For "Captain Grayton" three times), read 
"Captain Gayton." 

Page 515. For "Chartel," read "Cartel." 
Page 515. For "General Wilson," read "General Nelson." 
Page 515. For "get away," read "get us away." 
Page 515. For "a log lime," read "a logline." 
Page 515. For "Major General Phillips, Lord Rawdon," 
read "Major General Philips and Lord Rawdon." 

Page 515. For "the brigues," read "the intrigues." 
Page 515. For "Colonel Clarke's," read "Colonel Clark's." 

There are a number of other variances but, gen- 
erally, of little importance. 

The reason why Hamilton's letter (which, as we 
have said, is really an Official Report) in this narra- 
tive as from the Germain MSS., is, because the copy 
used is from the original in that collection. This orig- 
inal has its duplicate in the Haldimand Collection, A 



752 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

copy from this duplicate is the one in the pubHc Ar- 
chives at Ottawa, Canada. 



NOTE CXIV. 



ARRIVAL OF THE "SvILLING"' AT VINCENNES FEBRUARY 
27, 1779. 

''On the 27th, our galley arrived all safe, the 
crew much mortified, although they deserved great 
credit for their dilligence. They had on their passage 
taken up William Myres, express from [the Virginia] 
government. The despatches gave much encourage- 
ment : our own battalion was to be completed, and an 
additional one to be expected in the course of the 
Spring." [Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 

1859)' P- I57-] 

Butler {History of Kentucky^ p. 87) relates that 
"on the return of this [Helm's] successful expedition, 
with the British flags still flying, our galley [the 
Willing] hove in sight, and was preparing for an at- 
tack upon the little river fleet, supposing it to be the 
enemy ; but soon the beloved ensign of American free- 
dom was hoisted at the masthead, to the joy and tri- 
umph of our countrymen." Now this recital of the 
Kentucky historian has no foundation in fact. The 
Willing, as above related, arrived on the 27th of Feb- 
ruary, but Captain Helm, as before mentioned, did not 
return until the 5th of March. Of' course, this, to a 
great, extent, spoils Butler's pleasing narrative ; al- 
though the British flags may have been kept flying 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 753 

until it was no longer safe when the stars and stripes 
were run up to the mast head. 

The fact that Myres's name is given as ''Morris" 
in Clark's letter of April" 29, 1779, to the Virginia 
governor when printed in Jefferson's Works, is easily 
accounted for. Clark was a poor speller and had 
written it "Moires," which, very naturally, was sup- 
posed to be intended for "Morris." "Bowman's Jour- 
nal" spells the name with an i, instead of a y, thus : 
"Mires." But Clark, in his Memoir — Dillon's Indi- 
ana (ed. of 1859), p. 159 — has the correct spelling. 

Bancroft [History of the United States (ed. of 
1885), vol. V, p. 314] says: 

"The joy of the men of the North-west was com- 
pleted by the return of their messenger from Virginia, 
bringing from the house of assembly its votes of 
October and November, 1778, establishing the county 
of Illinois, and thanking Colonel Clark and the brave 
officers and men under his command for their extra- 
ordinary resolution and perseverance, and for the im- 
portant services which they had thereby rendered their 
country. 

"Since the time of that vote they had undertaken 
a far more hazardous enterprise, and had obtained per- 
manent possession of all the important posts and settle- 
ments on the Illinois and Wabash, rescued the inhabi- 
tants from British dominion, and established civil 
government in its republican form." 

It is, strictly speaking, not correct to say the mes- 
senger, Myres, returned "from Virginia;" as Vincen- 
nes, according to the Virginia claim, was in that State ; 
but the positive error is in the words, "on the Illinois 
and Wabash" (the italicising is mine), for "m the 111- 

48 



754 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

inois and on the Wabash" ; nor can it be said that 
these ''men of the North-west" had as yet estabHshed 
(if indeed, they ever did estabhsh) a government there 
of any form. The use of the word ''rescued" is, per- 
haps, expressive of too much change in the feehngs of 
the inhabitants, on their coming under American rule. 



NOTE CXV. 

LETTERS OF COL. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK.* 

(j.) To Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, 

'Tort Patrick Henry, March 9, 1779. 

"Dear Sir : — By Wm, Moires [Myers] you wrote me, 
if possible to procure you some horses and mares. Nothing 
could give me greater pleasure than to serve you, but I 
doubt at present it is out of my power, as my situation and 
circumstances are much altered. There are no such horses 
here as you request me to get and I have so much public 
business to do, especially in the Indian department that I 
doubt if I shall be able to go to the Illinois for some time. 
I find that you have conceived a greater opinion of the horses 
in this country than I have. The Pawnee and Chickasaw 
horses are very good and some of them delicate; but the 
common breed in this country is trifiiing, as it is adulterated. 
The finest stallion by far that is in the country, I purchased 
sometime ago and rode him on this expedition; and I re- 
solved to compliment you by presenting him to you; but, to 
my mortification, I find it impossible to get him across the 
drowned lands of the Wabash, as it is near three leagues 
across at present and no appearance of its falling shortly; 
but you may depend that I shall, by the first opportunity, 
send him to you. He came from New Mexico, three hun- 

* From the Haldimand MSS. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 76b 

dred leagues west of this. I don't think it in my power to 
send you such mares as you want this spring; but in order 
to procure you the best that can be got, I shall contract with 
some man of the Spanish Government by permit of the Com- 
mandant to go to the Pawnee Nation, two hundred leagues 
west, and get the finest mares to be had of the true blood ; 
they will be good, as they are all so ; if they are handsome, 
they will please you. I shall give such instructions as will 
be necessary and am in hopes that you will get them by 
fall. 

"I could get five or six mares soon, at the Illinois, very 
fine, but I think they are hurt by hard usage, as the inhabit- 
ants are barbarous horse-masters ; but I shall do it, except 
I can execute my other plan. 

"I thank you for your remembrances of my situation 
respecting lands in the frontiers. I learn that Government 
has reserved lands on the Cumberland for the soldiers. 

"If I should be deprived of a certain tract of land on 
that river which I purchased three years ago and have been 
at a considerable expense to improve, I shall in a manner 
lose my all. It is known by the name of the 'Great French 
Lick,' on the south or west side, containing three thousand 
acres. If you can do anything for me in saving it, I shall 
forever remember it with gratitude. 

"There are glorious situations and bodies of land in this 
country formerly purchased. I am in hopes of being able in a 
short time to send you a map of the whole. My compliments 
to your lady and family. I remain. Sir, Your Humble serv't, 

"G. R. Clark. 

"To His Excellency Pat. Henry, Esq., Gov'r. of Virginia, 
Williamsburg. 

"Per. Wm. Moires [Myres]." 

(2.) To Col. Harrison, Speaker of the Virginia 
Tloiise of Delegates. 

"Fort Patrick Henry, Vincennes, March 10, 1779. 
"Dear Sir : — I received your kind letter with the thanks 
of the House inclosed, I must confess. Sir, that I think my 



756 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

country has done no more honor than I merited; but you 
may rest assured that my study shall be to deserve the honor 
they have already conferred on me. 

"By. my public letters, you will be fully acquainted with 
my late successful expedition against Lt, Govr. Hamilton, 
who has fallen into my hands with all the principal partisans 
of Detroit. This stroke will nearly put an end to the 
Indian War. Had I but men enough to take the advantage 
of the present confusion of the Indian Nations, I could 
silence the whole in two months. I learn that five hundred 
men are ordered out to reinforce me. If they arrive, with 
what I have in the country, I am in hopes it will enable me 
to do something clever. 

"I am with respect, Sir, your very humble servant, 

"G. R. Clark. 

"Col. Harrison, Speaker of the House D., Williamsburg. 

"Per. Wm. Moires [Myres]." 

(j.) G. R. Clark's Warrant to Myres. 

"Fort Patrick Henry. March 13, 1779. 

"To William Moires [Myres]. 

"Sir: As the letters you have at present contain matters 
of great consequence and require a quick passage to Williams- 
burg, this is to empower you to press for the service anything 
you may stand in need of. If you cannot get it by fair 
means, you are to use force of arms. I request of you to lose 
no time, as you prize the interest of your country. I wish 
you success, etc. "G. R. Clark." 



NOTE CXVI. 



WILLIAM MYRES AND THREE COMPANIONS START FOR 
WILLIAMSBURG. 

In "Bowman's Journal" as printed in Clark's 
Campaign in the Illinois (p. no), the fact of Myres 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 757 

again setting out with three men by water is entirely 
omitted. They started the second time on the same 
day of Myres' return. 

That Myres did not leave the Falls earlier than 
the fourth of April is evidenced by the following letter 
entrusted to his care, written by a brother of Daniel 
Boone to Arthur Campbell and given verbatim: 

"Cantucky County The falls of Ohio 
"April 4th, 1779 
"Sir 

"I received your letter Dated Dec™ 20th for which I 
return you grate thanks but in regard to seling the Horse 
I would much rather I could get him out hear, for the In- 
dians has took my Horses & they are very dear to buy hear, 
and humbly beg you would send to the Gentleman that has 
him to send him to me by William Moires and you will 
much oblige your humble servant 

"Squire Boon 
"Nevertheless if the Gentleman sees cause to keep him 
and send me two hundred pounds let him use his pleasure 
To 

"Coir. Arthur Comble 
"these" 



NOTE CXVIL 

CONCERNING CLARK's MS. JOURNAL OF THE TAKING 
OF VINCENNES. 

That Clark kept a Journal giving an account of 
his setting out from Kaskaskia to attack Hamilton in 
Vincennes, of his march to the place last mentioned, 
;md of the capitulation of Fort Sackville by Hamilton, 
causes a keen regret that all that part giving daily 



758 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

particulars, to the ending of the 22d of February, 
1779, has not been preserved. "This precious docu- 
ment [that is, so much of it as relates events which 
took place from February 24th to February 27th, in- 
clusive], giving details of the campaign and surrender," 
says a recent writer, "which are nowhere else to be 
found, has never been printed; and, so far as I am 
aware, has never been used, except in a brief sum- 
mary [in Roosevelt's The Winning of the West}.'' 
But the same writer, because of an error in a previous 
publication, is led to the conclusion that Clark's Jour- 
nal was in the form of a letter, and that it was written 
on the 24th of February, the day of Hamilton's sur- 
render (William Frederick Poole in The Early North- 
zvest, p. 22) \ whereas the Journal (and a journal it 
really was) has an entry (and it is the concluding one) 
of February 27th, 1779, relating to the arrival at Vin- 
cennes of the Willing. The Journal is from the Haldi- 
mand MSS. and has an eventful history hereafter to 
be related. 



NOTE CXVIII. 

THE SENDING HOME BY CLARK OF MOST OF HIS 
PRISONERS FROM VINCENNES.. 

In Clark's letter of the twenty-ninth of April, 
1779, to the Governor of Virginia {Jefferson's Works, 
vol. I, p. 222n) are these words: "The number of 
prisoners we had taken, added to those of the garrison, 
was so considerable when compared to our own num- 
bers, that we were at a loss how to dispose of them 
so as not to interfere with our future operations." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 759 

In his Memoir, Clark writes upon the subject at 
greater length (Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), pp. 
160, 161) : 

"A company of volunteers from Detroit," are the 
subsequent words of Clark, ''mostly composed of 
young men, was drawn up ; and, when expecting to be 
sent off into a strange country, they were told that 
we were happy to learn that many of them were torn 
from their fathers and mothers and forced upon this 
expedition ; others, ignorant of the true cause in con- 
test, had engaged from a principle that actuates a great 
number of men — that of being fond of enterprise ; but 
that they had now a good opportunity to make them- 
selves fully acquainted with the nature of the war, 
which they might explain to their friends ; and that 
as we knew that sending them to the States where 
they would be confined in a jail probably for the course 
of the war, would make a great number of our friends 
at Detroit unhappy, we had thought proper, for their 
sakes, to suffer them to return home. 

"A great deal more," continues Clark, "was said 
to them on this subject. On the whole, they were 
discharged on taking an oath not to bear arms against 
America until exchanged. They received an order for 
their arms, boats and provisions to return with ; the 
boats were to be sold and divided among them when 
they got home. In a few days, they set out." . . . 
The inference from what is thus given by Clark is that 
nothing had been said previously by the prisoners as 
to their desire to be released on parole, and that the 
whole movement was the result of Clark's policy to 
alienate the French inhabitants of Detroit from the 
British interests ; but the following letter disproves 
this (the italicising is mine) : 



760 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



"Fort Patrick Henry, Vincennes, March 20, 1779. 

"Sir: In justice to my countryman, Mr. Tho's Bentley, 
who has been detained in Canada almost two years as prisoner 
to the ruin of his business and distraction of his family, [I 
write you to obtain his release]. I hope you will therefore 
consider the lenity shown to the prisoners that fell into the 
hands of Colonel George Rogers Clark, at this post, who, 
upon application, obtained permission from the Colonel to 
return to their families at Detroit; and that you will also 
apply to the Commander-in-chief in Canada to obtain the 
permission [release] of the said Tho's Bentley, in order 
that he may once more return to his family, which -suffer 
much by his absence. 

"I am. Sir, Your most humble servant, 

"Joseph Bowman, 
"Major in Col. Clark's Battalion. 
"On public service, 

"Capt. R. B. Lernoult, Esq., 

"Commandant at Detroit." 



NOTE CXIX. 

COLONEL G. R. CLARK TO CAPTAIN R. B. LERNOULT. 

"Fort Patrick Henry, Vincennes, March 16, 1779. 

"Sir : As many of the gentlemen that fell into my hands 
at this post, left letters at their departure for their friends 
at Detroit, I have enclosed them to you, hoping that you will 
expedite them to the persons to whom they are directed. As 
a few of the inhabitants of this town, with a number of your 
own people, have permits to go to Detroit on their lawfull 
business, I hope you will not detain such as should want to 
return, as you may be assured that I want no intelligence 
from them. 

"You have one Mr. Bentley, inhabitant of the Illinois 
a prisoner among you. I would fondly exchange one for him 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 761 

of equal rank, if agreeable. I learn by your letter to Govr. 
Hamilton, that you were very busy making new works. I 
am glad to hear it, as it will save the Americans some ex- 
pence in building. 

''My compliments to the Gentlemen of your Garrison. I 
am Yours, etc., 

"G. R. Clark. 

"Capt. Lernoult. 

"The officers of Fort Patrick Henry solicit Cap't Ler- 
noult to present their compliments to the officers of his 
Garrison." 



NOTE CXX. 



CLARK S COUNCIL, IN MARCH, 1/79, WITH INDIANS 
AT VINCENNES. 

When, after the lapse of years, Clark attempts to 
recall the proceedings of this council, he varies his 
language in many ways from what he used in describ- 
ing it a few months after it took place : "On the 
fifteenth of March, 1779," are his words, "a party of 
upper Piankeshaws and some Pottawattomie and 
Miami chiefs, made their appearance, making great 
protestations of their attachment to the Americans ; 
begged that they might be taken under the cover of 
our wings, and that the roads through the lands might 
be made straight, and all the stumbling-blocks re- 
moved ; and that our friends, the neighboring nations, 
might also be considered in the same point of view. 
I well knew from what principle all this sprang; and, 
as I had Detroit now in my eye, it was my business to 
make a straight and clear road for myself to walk, 
without thinking much of their interest, or anything 



762 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

else but that of opening the road in earnest, by flattery, 
deception, or any other means that occurred." 

''I told them," is Clark's further narration, "that 
I was glad to see them, and was happy to learn that 
most of the nations on the Wabash and Omi [Maumee] 
rivers had proved themselves to be men, by adhering 
to the treaties they had made with the Big Knife last 
fall, except a few weak minds that had been deluded 
by the English to come to war; that I did not know 
exactly who they were nor much cared; but under- 
stood they were a band chiefly composed of almost all 
the tribes (such people were to be found among all 
nations) ; but, as these kind of people, who had the 
meanness to sell their country for a shirt, were not 
worthy the .attention of warriors, we would say no 
more about them and think on subjects more becom- 
ing us. I told them I should let the great Council of 
the Americans know of their good behavior, and knew 
they would be counted as friends of the Big Knife, 
and would always be under the protection, and their 
country secured to them ; as the Big Knife had land 
enough and did not want any more ; but, if ever they 
broke their faith, the Big Knife would never again 
trust them, as they never hold friendship with a peo- 
ple that they find with two hearts." 

Clark also told them according to this his account, 
''that they were witnesses of the calamities the British 
had brought on their countries by their false asser- 
tions and their presents, which was a proof of their 
weakness; that they saw that all their boasted valor 
was like to fall to the ground, and they would not 
come out of the fort the other day to try to save the 
Indians that they flattered to war and suffered to be 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 763 



killed in their sight; and, as the nature of the war 
had been fully explained to them [the Indians] last 
fall they might clearly see that the Great Spirit would 
not suffer it to be otherwise; that it was not only the 
case on the Wabash but everywhere else; that they 
might be assured that the nations that would continue 
obstinately to believe the English, would be driven 
out of the land and their countries given to those who 
were more steady friends to the Americans." 

"I told them," adds Clark, ''that I expected, for 
the future, that if any of my people should be going 
to war through their country that they would be pro- 
tected, which should be always the case with their 
people among us; and that mutual confidence should 
continue to exist [between us]." 

"They replied," are the concluding words of the 
narration, ''that, from what they had seen and heard, 
they were convinced that the Master of Life had a 
hand in all things; that their people would rejoice 
on their return ; that they would take pains to diffuse 
what they heard through all the nations, and made no 
doubt of the good effect of it ; and, after a long speech 
in the Indian style calling all the Spirits to be wit- 
nesses, they concluded by renewing the chain of friend- 
ship, smoking the sacred pipe, and exchanging belts ; 
and, I believe, went off really well pleased." . . . 
(Clark's Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), 
pp. 162, 163.) 

In "Bowman's Journal" in the Department of 
State MSS., there are mentioned Pottawattomies and 
Miamies, besides the Piankeshaws, as having met Clark 
in council, but the Kickapoos are not named. As 
printed in Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, the Pian- 



764 HISTORY OF X LARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

keshaws and Miamies are spoken of only, the first 
named being put down as 'Teaians." Clark, in his 
Memoir as we have just seen, mentions, as making 
their appearance, ''a party of upper Piankeshaws and 
some Pottawattomie and Miami chiefs." It is certain, 
however, in view of what the Colonel says in his letter 
to Mason, that there were at the council upper and 
lower Piankeshaws, Kickapoos, Pottawattomies and 
Miamies. The up-river Piankeshaws had their vil- 
lage on the Vermillion about one mile above its con- 
fluence with the Wabash. The Miami Indians repre- 
sented were those of Eel river ; but the chiefs present 
were evidently dissembling as they really stood neutral 
so far as the Americans and British were concerned. 
{History of the Girtys, p. 107.) 



NOTE CXXI. 

WHY CLARK RESOLVED TO RETURN TO KASKASKIA. 

Clark, in his Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 
1859), p. 160 — says that his resolve to return to 
Kaskaskia was to blind his designs against Detroit. 
'The enterprise," he declares, "was deferred until the 
— of June, when our troops were to rendezvous at 
Vincennes. In the meantime, every preparation was 
to be made, procuring provisions, etc. ; and to blind 
our designs, the whole, except a small garrison, should 
march immediately to the Illinois ; and orders were 
sent to Kentucky to prepare themselves to meet at the 
appointed time. This was now our proposed plan, 
and directed our operations during the Spring." That 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 765 

this is error there can be no doubt. So important a 
fact would not have been omitted by Clark in his letter 
to the Governor on the twenty-ninth of April follow- 
ing; and especially would he not have been silent on 
the subject in writing to Mason on the nineteenth of 
the next November. His words to the latter clearly 
imply that he presumed matters would, in the end, all 
prove favorable and enable him to undertake the ex- 
pedition; and he contented himself upon that pre- 
sumption. 



NOTE CXXII. 

CONCERNING THE SO-CALLED "bOWMAN's JOURNAL." 

"Bowman's Journal." so frequently cited in this 
narrative, has this heading to the copy in the Depart- 
ment of State MSS.: "A Journal of Col. G. R. 
Clark's Proceeding from the 29th January, 1779 to 
the 20th March Inst." In the published Journal, in 
Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, it reads: ''Jo^^"!^^! 
of the Proceedings of Col. Geo. R. Clark, from 27th 
January, 1779, to March 20th inst." The first date 
given in the last heading is certainly error, as what is 
recorded as transpiring on that day is known to have 
occurred on the 29th. Roosevelt, in The Winning of 
the West, vol. II, p. 7on, changes the heading of the 
one in the Department of State MSS., in this wise: 
"A Journal of Col. G. R. Clark. Proceedings from 
the 29th January, 1779 to the 26th March Inst." 
This, of course, changes the sense, making what fol- 
lows to be the journal of Clark. And yet, in his 
next sentence, he explains that the Journal was written 



766 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

by Captain Bowman. It is generally credited to that 
officer ; and, because of this, it is known as "Bow- 
man's Journal." It was first published in the Louis- 
ville Literary News-Letter, November 21, 1840, from 
the "original," but not until it had been "revised" — 
generally to its harm. It is copied from the News- 
Letter into Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 99- 
III. The copy in the Department of State MSS., was 
taken before the revision was made, and it is the 
most reliable. The Journal is a daily record of what 
took place on the march to Vincennes and on the 
arrival there of Clark and his force. 

It is proper to mention that citing the document 
in this narrative, as "Bowman's Journal," has been 
done so for convenience — not because Captain Joseph 
Bowman was (as is generally supposed) the author. 
The last entry shows he was not. He left Vincennes 
with Clark on the twentieth of March ; yet the entry 
in the Journal on that day shows the writer (whoever 
he was) to have remained in Vincennes. 

But the reason why the Captain has usually been 
credited with the paternity is, that, in the "revised" 
Journal, after the ending of the entries proper, it is 
said by some one — "This Journal was taken from 
Major Bowman and revised by a person who was in 
the expedition. He has kept it for his own amuse- 
ment, but it does not come near what might be wrote 
[written] upon such an extraordinary occasion, had 
it been handled by a person who chose to enlarge upon 
it. It afforded matter enough to treat on." . . 

Now, that the Journal "was taken from Major 
Bowman" by no means implies that he wrote it. It 
will be remembered that the Captain was severely 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 767 

burned when attempting to fire thirteen guns, upon the 
surrender of Fort Sackville. He could hardly have 
continued the entries after that, as we find them, in 
the Journal. It is to be observed, also, that what is 
written by the person into whose possession the Journal 
came (see Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. iii) 
is not appended to the copy in the Department of 
State MSS. 

"I have the honor," wrote Brodhead from Fort 
Pitt to the Commander-in-chief of the American 
armies, *'to enclose Colonel Clark's Journal, contain- 
ing an account of his success against Governor Hamil- 
ton of Detroit and the garrison, at Vincennes. . . I 
cannot conceive how he can justify the murder of men 
who had surrendered prisoners ; and yet I must con- 
fess that I think Hamilton, from his general character, 
as proper an object for the gallows as could have been 
found." (Brodhead to Washington, May 29, 1779. 
— Department of State MSS.) 

And the Fort Pitt commander again, but to an- 
other correspondent, gave his views concerning the 
killing of the Indians, in these words : 

"Col. Clark's Journal, containing an account of 
every transaction on his last expedition to Vincennes, 
is in my possession. He took four other officers 
[besides Hamilton] and about sixty privates, besides 
some Indians which he killed and threw into the river, 
which is a part of his conduct I disapprove." (Broad- 
head to John Hecke welder, June 3, 1779.) 

The Journal spoken of by Brodhead as Clark's 
was the "Bowman Journal". Years after it was sent 
by the Fort Pitt commandant to Washington, it found 
its way into the Department of State, Washington, 



76^ HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

D. C, along with other papers of the General, where 
it remains. 

That Broadhead should have supposed it was 
Clark's own Journal is not surprising, as the writer's 
name no where appears upon the record. 

The first mention in print of the Journal is by 
Butler in his Kentucky (p. 8in), where he speaks of 
it as the ''Journal of the march by Major Bowman;" 
so that it was in the possession of Butler (or he had 
access to it) as early as 1834 — that is, to the original 
as "revised by a person who was in the expedition." 

In publishing this Journal in the Louisville Liter- 
ary News-Letter, November 21, 1840, the editor says: 

"We publish below a journal of the expedition 
of General [Colonel] Clark against the British post 
at Vincennes in 1779, commencing with his march 
from Kaskaskia. It was kept by Joseph Bowman, one 
of the Captains in the expedition, and is referred to 
by Mr. Butler in his 'History of Kentucky' as 'Major 
Bowman's Journal/ the writer having subsequently 
held the rank of Major. . . 

"The original manuscript of this journal — much 
effaced, and in some places illegible — is in possession 
of the Kentucky Historical Society. The Vincennes 
Historical and Antiquarian Society have a copy, which 
we transcribed for them and for the use of our friend 
Judge Law of that place." 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 769 
NOTE CXXIII. 

CLARK^S RETURN FROM VINCENNES TO KASKASKIA. 

In his letter to the Governor of Virginia of April 
29, 1779 (Jefferson's Works, vol. I, p. 222n), Clark 
sums up what was done in Vincennes just before 
leaving, in these words : "Having more prisoners than 
I knew what to do with, I was obliged to discharge a 
greater part of them on parole. Mr. Hamilton, his 
principal officers, and a few soldiers, I have sent to 
Kentucky, under a convoy of Captain Williams, in 
order to be conducted to you. After despatching 
Moires [Myres] with letters to you, treating with the 
neighboring Indians, etc., I returned to this place 
[Kaskaskia], leaving a sufficient garrison at Vincen- 
nes." 

In his Memoir — Dillon's Indiana (ed. of 1859), 
p. 164 — Clark writes : "The water being very high, 
we soon reached the Mississippi; and, the winds 
favoring us, in a fezv days we arrived safely at Kas- 
kaskia." (The italicising is mine.) Although this 
statement runs counter to what Clark says in his letter 
to Mason, I am constrained to believe it is true. 

In his letter he declares he spent much time on 
the way making some observations at different places, 
consequently he arrived too late at Kaskaskia to hinder 
a war that had commenced between the Delawares (of 
White river) and the inhabitants. By this he conveys 
the idea that he desired to hinder the hostilities ; and 
he gives a reason why he could not. It is the only 
instance of a seeming dissimulation I have discovered 
in his letter. 
49 



770 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



NOTE CXXIV. 

concerning the error that john todd was in 
Clark's expedition. 

It has been asserted by some of the best of the wri- 
ters of Western history that John Todd was one of 
Clark's soldiers on the expedition against the Illinois; 
but this error had its origin in the following, which 
is a part of a communication to James T. Morehead 
by Hon. R. Wickliffe (see address of the former, p. 
174.) : "It appears from depositions taken since his 
[Todd's] death that he accompanied Col. Clark (since 
Gen. Clark), in his expedition against Kaskaskia and 
Vincennes, and was at the capture of those places. 
After the surrender of those places, it is supposed that 
he returned to Kentucky; of this there is no record 
or living evidence ; but it appears from a letter written 
by General Clark that Colonel Todd was appointed to 
succeed him in the command at Kaskaskia." 

The persons who gave depositions to the effect 
spoken of were clearly in error, — taking, undoubtedly, 
Robert or Levi Todd for John, both of whom were in 
the service under Colonel Clark (^Calendar of Virginia 
State Papers, vol. I, p. ; also Butler's Kentucky, p. 
53 n.) — tradition having assigned to Levi, errone- 
ously, the position of aid to the Colonel. (See Note 
XLVIII, of this appendix.) John was in Kentucky 
county when appointed Lieutenant of the county of 
Illinois, but, as such officer, he did not succeed to 
the command at Kaskaskia. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 771 



NOTE CXXV. 

DEATH OF WILLIAM MYRES AND CAPTURE OF CLARK^S 
JOURNAL. 

In his Memoir, Clark clearly states what is erro- 
neous as to the letters and other documents entrusted 
to Myres. "Poor Myres, the express, who set out on 
the 15th [of March] got killed on his passage, and his 
packet fell into the hands of the enemy; but I had 
been so much on my guard, that there was not a sen- 
tence in it that could be of any disadvantage to us for 
the enemy to know; and there were private letters 
from soldiers to their friends designedly written to 
deceive in case of such accidents. This was custo- 
mary with us, as our expresses were frequently sur- 
prised." 

In all this there is very little truth except as to the 
killing of Myres. 

Clark's journal which had been entrusted to Myres 
was taken to Detroit entire; but only that part relat- 
ing to the capture of Hamilton and his garrison has, 
it seems been preserved among the Haldimand MSS. 
The Varrant to Myres, Clark's public and private let- 
ters, copies of which we have already given, a letter 
from Major Bowman to Governor Henry of March 
1 2th, thanking him for his (Bowman's) promotion, 
and other documents, were likewise secured when 
Myres was killed, and taken to Detroit and are now 
in the Haldimand collection.* In his letter to Mason 

* See Note CXV of this Appendix for some of these, 
taken from the copies made from the originals by the Public 
Archivist, Douglas Brymner, of Ottawa, Canada. 



772 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

of November 19th, 1779, Clark only mentions that, 
having despatched off Captain Williams and company 
with Governor Hamilton, his principal officers, and a 
few [British] soldiers, to the Falls of Ohio to be sent to 
Williamsburg," he then, "in a few days" sent his let- 
ters to the Virginia Governor : he makes no mention 
of the killing of Myres, of the capture of the papers 
and documents in his (Myres') possession, or of his 
writing again to Governor Henry on receipt of the 
news. In his Memoir, however, Clark says [Dillon's 
Indiana (ed. of 1859), p. 159]: "I sent [upon learning 
the death of Myres] a second dispatch to the Gov- 
ernor, giving him a short but full account of what had 
passed, and our views." This was his letter of April 
29th, 1779. 



NOTE CXXVI. 

Jefferson's reply to clark's letter of april 
29, 1779. 

As Patrick Henry was no longer Governor of Vir- 
ginia, Clark's letter of April 29, 1779, from Kaskaskia 
was delivered of course, to his successor, Thomas Jef- 
ferson. It was first published in the Virginia Gazette, 
of June 26, 1779, and afterward in Jefferson's works, 
Vol. I, page 222 n. The letter had been entrusted to 
the care, it is probable, of Mr. St. Vrain, a resident, 
it is believed, of the Ihinois, who returned to Clark 
with the Governor's brief answer — one that would 
be perfectly understood by the Colonel but would be 
misleading in its most important particulars to the 
British should it fall into their hands. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 773 

Jefferson's reply has been preserved but in a 
mutilated condition. However, the words torn off I 
have ventured to supply. They are inclosed in brack- 
ets in the following : 

"Williamsburg, [June — , 1779]. 
"Co/, Geo. R. Clark, 

"Sir: Your letter and verbal [communications] by Mr. 
St. Vrain was received to-day. Your wiishes shall be] 
attended to. Much solicitation will be felt for the result 
of your expedition to the Wabash; it will, at least, delay 
their expedition to the frontier, settlement, and if successful, 
have an important bearing ultimately in establishing our 
northwestern boundary. 

"I am. Sir, your most obedient, 

Th. Jefferson." 

(See Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 2n.) 
The letter was probably dated on or about the 
middle of June. See Jefferson to Washington, from 
Williamsburg, June 23, — Jefferson's Works, Vol. I, 
p. 221. 

In speaking of this letter, Hinsdale (The Old 
Northwest, '^. 153) says that it was written before the 
issue of the campaign of Clark against "the country 
beyond the river" Ohio was known in Virginia; and 
Moses {Illinois: Historical and Statistical, Vol. I, p. 
158) says that it was written "about the date of the 
inception of the expedition." The Hon. Henry Pirtle, 
in giving the communication in his "Introductory" in 
Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, uses these words; 
"The following letter of Mr. Jefferson shows his an- 
ticipation of the importance of this expedition [of 
Clark to the Illinois]." Other writers have fallen into 
the same error; while William Wirt Henry wrestles 
with the subject in this wise {Life of Patrick Henry 



774 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

Vol. I, p. 588 n) : ''As Jefferson was taken into the 
counsels of Governor Henry while planning this 
[Clark's] expedition, this letter throws a strong light 
upon the motives leading to it, which were not simply 
the protection of Kentucky." The letter itself bears 
intrinsic evidence of having been written to Clark in 
the Illinois by Jefferson as Governor. The Colonel's 
letter was of such importance that it was sent by an 
express which v/ould not have been the case had it 
been intended for Jefferson as a private citizen; be- 
sides, it evidently needed what it received — an imme- 
diate reply. Clark's wishes would naturally be sent 
to the Virginia's Chief Executive. St, Vrain was, 
probably, a citizen of Kaskaskia.* Jefferson, even if he 
were at Williamsburg, would scarcely have informed 
Clark that his wishes would ''be attended to," unless 
he (Jefferson) had occupied the Executive chair at the 
time. There is no evidence extant that Clark wrote 
anything to Jefferson after starting upon his expedi- 
tion simply because of the friendship existing between 
them. All his letters to him while upon the expedition, 
that have been discovered, were a part of his (Clark's) 
official correspondence. Besides, it is to be borne in 
mind that the subject of the northwest boundary of the 
United States had only just then received public at- 
tention. An expedition from the Illinois to the Wabash 
simply, could have no important bearing — ultimately 
in establishing this boundary ; but if continued to De- 

* A place called "St. Vrain" is mentioned in Mason's 
Early Chicago and Illinois (p. 158), being on the Kaskaskia 
river a short distance above Kaskaskia, years after; and in 
the same work (p. 160), is mentioned the brothers St. Vrain. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 775 

troit and if successful, the result would prove highly 
beneficial. 



NOTE CXXVII. 

CONCERNING CLARK^S SECOND MARCH TO VINCENNES. 

"An expedition," wrote Col. Montgomery, Feb. 
22, 1783, (See Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. 
Ill, p. 441), "being already planned (or, rather, a 
maneuvre) to prevent the enemy taking the field and 
distressing the frontiers, — I was ordered to conduct 
the troops by water to Vincennes, on the Wabash, 
Colonel Clark crossing by land to that post with a 
small escort." Clark, in his Memoir — Dillon's Indi- 
ana (ed of 1859), says: "Early in June, Colonel 
Montgomery was dispatched by water with the whole 
of our stores : Major Bowman marched the remainder 
of our troops by land. Myself, with a party of horse, 
reached Vincennes in four days, where the whole 
safely "arrived a short time after." What Clark here 
states is virtually corroborated by a report which 
reached De Peyster at Michilimackinac some time 
after the marching of Major Bowman. 



NOTE CXXVIII. 

WHY CLARK MAS ANXIONS TO MARCH AGAINST 
DETROIT. 

"In a few days (after the arrival at Kaskaskia of 
County-Lientenant [Tt>d], Colonel Montgomery ar- 
rived. To my mortification I found he had not half 
the men I expected. Immediately receiving a letter 



776 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

from Colonel Bowman with fresh assurances of a 
considerable reinforcement [the officers in general be- 
ing anxious for the expedition (against Detroit)], I 
resolved to rendezvous [at* Vincennes], according to 
appointment ; and, if not deceived by the Kentuckians, 
I should still be able to complete my design, as I only 
wanted men sufficient to make me appear respect- 
able in passing through [the territory] of the 
savages, by which means I could on the march com- 
mand those friendly at my ease, and defy my enemies. 
Three hundred men at this time were sufficient to re- 
duce the garrison at Detroit, as the new works there 
were not complete nor could be according to the plan 
before my arrival. The gentlemen of Detroit were 
not idle (although having sufficient reason to be con- 
vinced that they were in no danger from the Depart- 
ment of Pittsburgh) as they were always suspicious 
of my attacking them, being sensible of my growing 
interest among the savages. 

'Tn order to give themselves more time to fortify, 
t-hey would make some diversion on the Illinois. They 
also engaged a considerable number of their savages 
to make an attempt on Vincennes. Those Indians 
that had declared for the American interest, in order 
to show their zeal, sent word to them that if they had 
a mind to fight the Bostonians at Vincennes, they must 
first cut their way through them, as they were Big 
Knives too. This effectually stopped their operation. 
Knowing that the expedition depended entirely on the 
Kentuckians turning out, I began to be suspicious of 
a disappointment on hearing of their marching against 
the Shawanese towns." * . . . (Clark, to Mason 
— Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, pp. 85, 86. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 777 



NOTE CXXIX. 

JEFFERSON INFORMS WASHINGTON OF CLARK^S MEDI- 
TATED ATTACK AGAINST DETROIT AND OF ITS 
ABANDONMENT. 

"It is possible you may have heard," wrote Jef- 
ferson, February loth, 1780, to Washington, ''that in 
the course of last summer an expedition was meditated 
by our Colonel Clark, against Detroit; that he had 
proceeded so far as to rendezvous a considerable body 
of Indians, I believe, four or five thousand, at Vin- 
cennes, but being disappointed in the number of whites 
he expected, and not choosing to rely principally on 
the Indians, he was obliged to decline it." (Jefferson's, 
Works, vol. I, p. 239.) There can be do doubt that 
the number of Indians who would have gone with 
Clark is here greatly overestimated. 



NOTE CXXX. 

PIANKESHAW DEED TO COLONEL CLARK, 

"By the Tobacco's Son, Grand Chief of all the Planke- 
shaw Nations and of all the Tribes, Grand Door to the 
Wabash as ordered by the Master of Life, holding the Toma- 
hawk in one hand and Peace in the other; judging the Na- 
tions, giving entrance for those that are for Peace, and 
making them a clear Road, etc. Declaration : 

"Whereas for many years past this once peaceable land 
hath been put in confusion by the English encouraging all 
people to raise the tomahawk against the Big Knives, saying 
that they were a bad people, rebellious and ought to be put 
from under the sun and their names to be no more. ^- 



778 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"But as the sky of our Councils was always misty and 
never clear, we still were at a loss to know what to do, 
hoping that the Master of Life would one day or other make 
the sky clear and put us in the right road. He, taking pity 
on us, sent a father among us (Col. George Rogers Clark) 
that has cleared our eyes and made our paths straight, de- 
fending our lands, etc., so that we now enjoy peace from the 
rising to the setting of sun; and the nations even to the 
heads of the great river (meaning the Mississippi) are 
happy and will no more listen to bad birds, but abide by 
the Councils of their great Father, a chief of the Big 
Knives, that is now among us. — 

"And whereas it is our desire that he should long remain 
among us, that we may take his counsel, and be happy, it 
also being our desire to give him lands to reside on in our 
country that we may at all times speak to him. After many 
solicitations to him to make choise of a tract, he choosing 
•the land adjoining the Falls of Ohio, one the west side of 
said river. 

"I do hereby in the names of all the great chiefs and 
warriors of the Wabash and their allies declare that so much 
land at the Falls of Ohio contained in the following bounds, 
to-wit : Beginning opposite the middle of the first island 
below the Falls, bounded upwards by the west bank of the 
river so far as to include two leagues and [a] half on a 
straight line from the beginning, thence at right angles with 
said line two leagues and [a] half in breadth in all its parts, 
shall hereafter and ever be the sole property of our great 
father (Colonel Clark) with all things thereto belonging 
either alive or below the Earth, shall be and is his, except 
a road through said land to his door, which shall remain 
ours, and for us to walk on to speak to our father. All 
nations from the rising to the setting of the sun, that are not 
in alliance with us are hereby warned to esteem the said 
gift as sacred, and not to make that land taste of blood, that 
all people either at peace or war may repair in safety to get 
counsel of our father. Whoever first darkens that land shall 
no longer have a name. This declaration shall forever be a 
witness between all nations and our present great father, that 
the said lands are forever hereafter his property. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 770 

"In witness whereof, I do in the name of all the great 
chiefs and warriors of the Wabash, in open Council, affix 
my mark and seal. Done at Vincennes, this 16th day of 
June, 1779. "Francis, Son of Tobacco," 



NOTE CXXXL 
Clark's last ''general orders'' on his expedition. 

HEADQUARTERS; FORT PATRICK HeNRY, 

Vincennes, August 5th, 1779. 
"General Orders. 

"Lieut. Colonel John Montgomery of the Illinois bat- 
talion is to proceed with the following detachments under his 
command to the Illinois : 

"Detachment for Fort Clark. — Captain John Williams (to 
be joined by Captain Worthington's company), Lieutenant 
Brashear, Lieutenant Gerault, Capt.-Lieut. Harrison of artil- 
lery, now at Fort Clark. 

"Detachment for Cahokia. — ^^Capt. Richard McCarty (to 
be joined by Capt. Quirk's company), Lieutenant Parrault, 
Lieutenant Clark. 

"The Garrison at Fort Patrick Henry. — Captain Shelby 
(to be joined by Capt. Taylor and Capt. Keller's companies). 
Lieutenant Wilson, Ensign Williams, Capt. Robert Todd (to 
be joined by Capt. Evans company), Lieutenant Dalton of 
artillery, Ensign Slaughter. 

"The officers of the artillery at the different posts and 
garrisons are to take charge of the artillery stores, etc., be- 
longing to that Department. 

"Major Joseph Bowman is to proceed with the recruiting 
parties and to have the direction thereof. The general officers 
out recruiting are to make reports to him and receive orders 
and instructions from him. 

"Officers for the recruiting service. — Captains Quirk, 
Evans, Taylor, Worthington, Keller; Lieutenants Roberts, 
Crochett, Calvit; Ensign Montgomery. 



780 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

"Captain Robert George of the artillery, Lieutenant 
Robertson of the same, with their company, go to the Falls 
of the Ohio with the Commander-in-chief, where Head- 
quarters are to be established. 

"Captain Leonard Helm is appointed Indian Agent for 
Fort Patrick Henry and the Department of the Wabash. 

"M. Gamelin of Wea is to fall under his [Capt. Helm's] 
Department and to make report to Headquarters at the Falls 
of the Ohio, or to Kaskaskia to Lieut. Colonel Montgomery 
or other officers commanding [there] for the time being, and 
is to follow such instructions as he shall receive from myself 
or any other his superior officer, 

"Captain Linctot will appoint an assistant for the upper 
part of the Mississippi in the Indian Department, near the 
Dogs Plains [Prairie du Chien], provided the appointment 
be approved of by Colonel Montgomery or the commanding 
officer [at Fort Clark] for the time being. 

"Geo. R. Clark. 

"[Colonel of the Illinois battalion and Commander-iji- 
chief of the Virginia forces in the Western Department]." 
{Calendar of Virginia State Pepers, vol. I, pp. 324, 325.) 



NOTE CXXXII. 

FINAL ARRANGEMENTS BEFORE LEAVING VINCENNES 
FOR THE FALLS. 

Says Clark in his Memoir — (Dillon's Indiana 
(ed. of 1859), P- 167); 

'The business, from the first, had been so con- 
ducted as to make no [a] disadvantageous impression 
on the enemy in case of a disappointment, as they could 
never know whether we really had a design on Detroit 
or only a finesse to amuse them, which latter would 
appear probable. Arranging things to the best ad- 
vantage was now my principal study. The troops were 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 781 

divided betwen Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and 
the Falls of the Ohio. Colonel Montgomery was ap- 
pointed to the command of the Illinois; Major Bow- 
man to superintend the recruiting business ; a number 
of officers were appointed to that service ; and myself 
to take up my quarters at the Falls as the most con- 
venient spot to have an eye over the whole." By this 
it seems Clark never learned the particulars concerning 
the efforts made by Lernoult at Detroit and by De 
Peyster at Michilemackinac to repel (what they con- 
sidered was certain) his attack on Detroit. 



NOTE CXXXIIL 

OF THE FORT ERECTED BY CLARK^S ORDERS AT THE 
FALLS OF THE OHIO. 

The 'Tails' Fort" as Hamilton styles it (it had 
received no particular name) was a fortification "con- 
sisting of a parallelogram of double log cabins, about 
two hundred feet in length and one hundred in breadth 
with an inner court about one hundred and fifty feet 
long and fifty feet wide. Each of the four corners was 
a block house, with walls projecting along the lines of 
the cabins and serving the purpose of bastions. On 
each of the long sides were eighteen cabins, while 
there were eight on each of the short sides, making 
fifty-two in all, and affording shelter for two or three 
hundred persons. 

The fort was made of round logs cut from the sur- 
rounding forest, and covered with rough boards riven 
by hand. Wherever there was a chimney, it was made 



782 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

of wood lined with flat stones at the bottom for a fire- 
place, and the middle was daubed with clay thence to 
the top to prevent ignition. The rooms had dirt floors, 
and there were no windows except holes in the walls, 
as much for the use of the rifle as for light." (R. T. 
Durrett, in the Louisville Courier- Journal, August 2, 
1883.). 



NOTE CXXXIV. 

THE PRESENTATION OF A SWORD TO CLARK BY VIRGINIA. 

ALSO CONCERNING THE CREDIT DUE OLIVER 

POLLOCK FOR HIS SACRIFICES IN AID 

OF THE EXPEDITION. 

"Williamsburg, in Council, Sept. 4th, 1779. 

''Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark : 

"Sir: I have the honor to inform you that by Captain 
Rogers I have sent the sword which was purchased by the 
Governor to be presented to you, by order of the General 
Assembly, as a proof of their approbation of your great and 
good conduct and gallant behavior. I heartily wish a better 
[one] could have been procured, but it was thought the best 
that could be purchased ; and was bought of a gentleman who 
had used it but a little, and judged it to be elegant and costly. 
I sincerely congratulate you on your successes, and wish you 
a continuation of them and a happy return to your friends 
and country; and am. Sir, with great regard, your most 
ob't serv't, 

"John Page, Lt. Gov." 

A number of traditions concerning the presenta- 
tion of this sword to the Colonel — all more or less de- 
void of truth — have found their way into print. 

"After his conquest of the Illinois, he [Clark] was 
voted a sword by the State of Virginia, The bearer of 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ElV. 783 

it met the grave and discontented hero on the bank of 
the Wabash. He was anxiously waiting for the news 
that the House of Delegates had passed his accounts, 
and had voted money to pay them, to enable him to 
make good his engagements, on sudden emergencies, 
for supplies to his men. He was disappointed. He 
took the sword — drew it from its scabbard, and plac- 
ing the point to the ground, thrust it deep into the soil 
he had conquered, and broke it off by the hilt. Throw- 
ing away the gHttering handle, he said, 'T asked Vir- 
ginia for bread, and she sent me a swords, " (Denny's 
Journal, p. 218.) But the bearer of the sword did not 
meet Clark on the Wabash at all. He was found at 
his headquarters at the Falls (Louisville). He was 
not ''anxiously waiting for the news that the House of 
Delegates had passed his accounts, and had voted 
money to pay them." Instead of being disappointed 
when the sword came, he was highly elated. He did 
not break the weapon but carefully preserved it as a 
most precious gift. 

As to the measure of credit due Oliver Pollock in 
sustaining Clark, it may be said that hitherto it has 
been unjustly overshadowed by praise of M. Vigo for 
his services. In Clark's letter to the Governor of Vir- 
ginia, of April 29, 1779, from Kaskaskia, the Colonel 
was not mistaken in his belief that some of the mer- 
chants who advanced considerable amounts would 
suffer; for such was the case, particularly with Vigo. 
[Beckwith, in Reynolds' Illinois (ed. of 1887), p. 423]. 
Beckwith says: "He [Vigo] turned out his merchan- 
dise to supply Clark's destitute soldiers." But Clark's 
soldiers were by no means destitute. Vigo would as- 
sist Clark — particularly to aid him in his proposed 



784 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

movements against Detroit. That writer adds that he 
(Vigo) "sustained the credit of the Virginia conti- 
nental money by taking it at par or guaranteeing its 
redemption at its face to those who exchanged their 
provisions or supphes for it. His advances or Habil- 
ities incurred in this way, amounted to more than 
twenty thousand dollars, which, with Hamilton's con- 
fiscations at Vincennes and losses through reprisals of 
Indians hostile to his side of the war, reduced him to 
poverty;" that is, he did his best to sustain the Vir- 
ginia money, but could only do so to the extent of the 
amounts he took himself or guaranteed. Writers of 
Western history generally overrate Vigo's sacrifices. 
For what he did to further the interests of America 
he should receive praise commensurate with those sac- 
rifices ; unfortunately, however, the eulogies bestowed 
upon him have, as we have before hinted, to a great 
extent hitherto obscured what was due in a greater de- 
gree to Oliver Pollock. John Law {Colonial History 
of Vincennes, p. 21) declares that the whole credit of 
Clark's conquest belongs to two men : "Gen. George 
Rogers Clark and Col. Francis Vigo." This of course, 
is absurd. Between the two should be named Patrick 
Henry, Oliver Pollock and Pierre Gibault: after the 
five, Clark's officers and men. General Hand and others 
are to be mentioned. But it must not be forgotten 
that, next to the general planning and shrewdness dis- 
played by Colonel Clark, that which most conspired 
to secure success was the war between England and 
France and the alliance of the latter with the United 
States. (See further as to Pollock, Mason's Early 
Chicago and Illinois, pp. 321, 323, 343, 348, 353, 358). 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 785 



NOTE CXXXV. 

GEORGE mason's ANXIETY TO MAKE GOOD HIS PLEDGE 
TO CLARK. 

By the following, it will be seen how anxious was 
the patriotic Mason that his and his two friends' prom- 
ises, after the success of Clark and his own force had 
been assured, should be carried out: 

"The Commonwealth of Virginia hath yet given 
no titles to any lands on the northwest side of the 
Ohio; but the pubHc faith stands pledged to Colonel 
Clarke and his officers and men (in all about one hun- 
dred and eighty) who reduced the British posts of 
Kaskaskia and Vincaines, for a liberal reward in the 
lands they conquered," [George Mason's Plan of 
Cession of the Territory of the Northwest to the 
United States, dated July 27, 1780. (Kate Mason 
Rowland's Mason, vol. I, p. 365.)] 



NOTE CXXXVI. 

FOR WHOM CLARK HELD THE COUNTRY HE CONQUERED ; 

AND IN WHAT WAY VIRGINIA PROFITED 

BY THE CONQUEST. 

'Tn 1778, . . . General George Rogers Clark, 
with the authority of Virginia, advanced into the 
Northwest with a little army of Kentuckians ; and, as 
the result of a series of remarkable exploits, which fig- 
ure among the most romantic incidents in American 
history, seized Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes and 
50 



786 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

held the disputed territory for the United States till 
the close of the war." (R. G. Thwaites: The Story 
of Wisconsin, p. 109.) 

It has already been shown that Colonel Clark had, 
in his "little army," very few Kentuckians, properly 
so called. His conquests were not only under the au- 
thority of Virginia, but they inured at once to that 
State, which very soon began to exercise civil juris- 
diction over the conquered, territory, continuing its 
rule until all its claims were ceded in 1784 to the 
United States. Strictly speaking, Virginia held the 
disputed territory until the close of the war rather 
than Clark, whose military authority soon became more 
nominal than real after the final conclusion of his ex- 
pedition and his return to the I^alls of the Ohio; as 
all Virginia troops under his orders were withdrawn 
from the various posts north of that river in little over 
a year, although he retained command until May 21, 
1783, of the Western Department."^ 

The immediate and direct profit to Virginia aris- 
ing out of the conquest was the increased security it 
gave to her Kentucky settlements; but it must not 
for a moment be supposed that when Colonel Clark 
finally made his headquarters at the Falls of the Ohio, 
those settlements were out of danger; far from it. 

In this connection it may be well to record what 
Clark, in June, 1783, says concerning affairs at Vin- 
cennes from the time the Americans first gained pos- 
session in 1778 to 1 78 1. The reader will find no diffi- 
culty in noticing his errors as to the years 1778, and 

* I have not been able to find any evidence that any 
military order was issued by Clark or his officers after 1781, 
directly affecting the Illinois or Wabash towns. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 787 

1779, from what has already been given in our nar- 
rative. As to 1 78 1, we give the following which shows 
conclusively that Vincennes was not abandoned in 
that year: "The enemy are approaching Vincennes 
and fortifying themselves at the Miami [head of the 
Maumee] ; so the inhabitants of Vincennes have pe- 
titioned me for an officer and men to uphold the honor 
of the state there, with which I have complied." (Cap- 
tain George from Fort Jefferson, February 15, 1781, 
to Col. Geo. Slaughter at the Falls of the Ohio — Cal- 
endar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 521). "The 
following hints will sufficiently point out the cause of 
every article of life on the Wabash being raised to 
so great price, as charged in some of the Western Ac- 
counts : On our getting possession of Vincennes in 
1778, and gaining three or four thousand warriors to 
the American interest all commerce between that coun- 
try and Detroit immediately ceased. The Chickasaws, 
part of the Cherokees, and other Southern Indians, 
warmly attached to the British interest rendered it ex- 
ceedingly difficult for the merchants to get supplies 
from the Mississippi, as numbers of them were cut off 
on their passage up the Ohio by the Indians, who had 
been instructed by the English to block up that river if 
possible. These circumstances caused every article at 
Vincennes to rise at least to four or five prices. 

"The garrison kept at the post was obliged to 
receive its supplies from the inhabitants of the town, 
who consisted of about three hundred militia, about 
one-fourth farmers, that scarcely raised a sufficiency 
of provisions to supply the inhabitants. The British 
on the Lakes sensible of our growing interest with 
the savages, spared no pains to regain them by emis- 



788 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

saries, which made it necessary that the greatest atten- 
tion should be paid them on our part. Consequently, 
numbers of savages were constantly at that post coun- 
seling. Agents were kept in every quarter of their 
settlements where we could venture them; and Vin- 
cennes became, at one time, the seat of Indian affairs. 
''Articles necessary for the solemnity of treaties 
and support of troops were generally procured for the 
State by a few merchants — Legras, Bosseron, Linctot 
and others — whose zeal induced them to advance 
their fortunes for the public interest. Governor Ham- 
ilton, by his enemies in the Pittsburgh country, being 
informed there was a great number of disaffected per- 
sons in that quarter ready to join him, resolved to 
make a descent on that place, with all the power he 
could raise. General Carleton approved his plan, but 
recommended it to him first to drive the rebels out 
of the Illinois country, otherwise they might possibly 
step in and take possession of Detroit, as he would 
have to leave it in a defenceless situation. After put- 
ting the latter into execution he might regain of the 
Indian interest, and complete his force to enable him to 
execute his first design. The attempt was daring; but 
the prudent measures that gentleman conducted him- 
self by enabled him to get possession of St. Vincent 
[Vincennes] without much difficulty. The season be- 
ing too far advanced, he was obliged to take up his 
winter quarters at that place, and of course disperse 
his Indian forces until spring. In the meantime [he] 
got captured by a superior force, which doubly revived 
our interest in that quarter and extended our influence 
nearly to the walls of Detroit; and the great con- 
course of people that consequently happened for many 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 789 

months — troops, Indians, etc., — nearly caused a 
famine. 

"The inhabitants not being able to recover their 
former plenty, in 178 1 were obliged to abandon the 
post for the want of supplies; from which moment 
our interest with the Indians sunk as rapidly as we 
had gained it, and nearly the whole engaged in war 
against us." {Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. 
Ill, pp. 501, 502.) 



NOTE CXXXVII. 

WHAT CLARK CONQUERED AND THE RESULTS OF HIS 
CONQUESTS. 

William Frederick Poole, LL. D., in The Early 
Northwest (pp. 4, 5), says: "The general histories of 
the United States have been written by Eastern men, 
and a few of their writers have been tall enough to 
look over the Appalachian range and see what has hap- 
pened on the other side. The story of the Revolution- 
ary War has often been told without a mention of the 
campaigns of George Rogers Clark, who, as a Virginia 
partisan and with an intelligence and valor which have 
not been surpassed in ancient or modern warfare, 
captured from the British the Northwestern Terri- 
tory." 

And thus R. G. Thwaites ( The Story of Wiscon- 
sin, pp. 117, 118) : "But the Revolutionary War closed 
with the following year [1782] and the entire North- 
west, under the definite treaty of peace in 1783, was, 
regardless of all private claims, apportioned to the 
United States, having been fairly won with the sword 



790 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

by George Rogers Clark, and kept for our inheritance 
by the shrewd diplomacy of Franklin, Adams and 
Jay." 

Congress, in October, 1780, as indicated by its in- 
structions to Jay, looked upon what Clark took pos- 
session of — that is, what he captured and won — as 
extending only to"the important posts and settlements 
on [in] the Illinois and [on the] Wabash." What he 
essayed farther to the northward and northwestward 
— to what is now Peoria, Illinois, and to the present 
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin — was only to make 
friends of the several Indian nations in those regions ; 
but these savages, with few exceptions, again took up 
the hatchet, before the close of the war, against the 
Americans. The British, who held the important posts 
of Detroit and Michilimachinac had control, virtually, 
over much more' territory in the Northwest than was 
reduced to American sway by Clark; and this was 
the fact immediately after the conquests of the Col- 
onel, and continued until after peace was declared be- 
tween the two countries. 

A recent author (Hinsdale: The Old Northwest, 
p. 158) says: "The Northwest had been won by a 
Virginia army, commanded by a Virginia officer, put 
in the field at Virginia's expense. Governor Henry 
had promptly announced the Conquest to the Virginia 
delegates in Congress." 

It is evident this is too sweeping a declaration. 
Clark did not win the Northwest. And that writer 
had already written (p. 157) : 

"Clark, who probably did not appreciate the dif- 
ference between seizing Detroit and seizing Kaskaskia, 
was compelled to abandon the enterprise, and Detroit 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 791 

remained in British hands at the end of the war, and, 
in fact, until 1796. 'Detroit lost for a few hundred 
men,' was his pathetic lament as he surrendered an 
enterprise that lay near his heart. Had he been able 
to achieve it, he would have won and held the whole 
Northwest. 

"As it was he won and held the Illinois and the 
Wabash." . . . 

As to the results of Clark's conquest there has 
been much discussion. Dr. Poole in his monograph 
just cited says not only that Clark "captured from the 
British the Northwestern Territory," but that he helci 
*'it until the peace of 1783," thereby securing "to this 
nation the Mississippi River and the great lakes as 
boundaries." To this he adds this footnote : 

"That, if a right to the said territory depended on 
the conquests of the British posts within it, the United 
States have already ... by the success of their 
arms obtained possession of all the important posts 
and settlements on the Illinois and Wabash, rescued 
the inhabitants from British domination, and estab- 
lished civil government in its proper form over them." 
(Instruction of Congress to Mr. Jay, October, 1780, 
Secret Journals of Congress, II., 329.) 

"From a full confidence that the Western terri- 
tory now contended for lay within the United States, 
the British posts therein have been reduced by our 
citizens, and American government is now exercised 
within the same." (Report written by Mr. Madison 
entitled "Facts and Observations in support of the 
several Claims of the United States," Secret Journals 
of Congress, August, 1782, III., 199. N. Y. Hist. Col- 
lec, 1878, p. 139.) 



792 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

''He [Vergennes] intended to resist the claim 
which the colonies had invariably advanced of push- 
ing their frontiers as far west as the Mississippi, . . 
and to leave the country north of the Ohio to England, 
as arranged by the Quebec Act of 1774." (Fitzmau- 
rice's Life of Earl Shelhourne, II., 169.) 

At the date of Madison's Report, the ''Western 
territory" then "contended for" included all the region 
of country northwest and west of the Ohio to the 
Mississippi and the Great Lakes. But "the British 
posts therein" had not been "reduced" as he declares — 
only a part of them — by "our citizens." The strong- 
est of the posts, Detroit and Michilimackinac, had not 
been so "reduced," and the "American government" 
was by no means, "exercised within the same." 

Speculation has ever been rife since the conquest 
by Clark and his men, as to its direct results. 

"Their success," said George Mason, in 1780, only 
a little over a year after the capture of Hamilton, "has 
been of great importance to the United States, by fix- 
ing garrisons behind the Indian towns and deterring 
them from sending their warriors far from home, and 
by drawing from the British to the American interest 
several tribes of Indians; the frontiers of the middle 
states have been more effectually protected than they 
would have been by ten times the number of troops 
stationed upon the Ohio; and by putting Virginia in 
possession of these posts, they have not only taken 
them out of the hands of the British, but have pre- 
vented the Spaniards from possessing themselves of 
them; which, but for that circumstance, they would 
most undoubtedly have done last year [1779] in their 
expedition up the Mississippi, when they took posses- 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 793 

sion of every other British post on that river ; in which 
case that country [that is, the Ilhnois] would have 
been lost to' the United States and left to be disputed 
between Spain and Great Britain, upon [their holding] 
a treaty of peace. The possession of these posts has 
prevented Spain from meddling with the country on 
this [the east] side of the Mississippi above the mouth 
of the Ohio and will afford a strong argument in favor 
of our claim, upon [our holding] a treaty with Great 
Britain." [George Mason, July 27, 1780, in his "Plan 
for a Cession of the Northwest Territory to the United 
States." (Kate Mason Rowland's Mason, vol. I, p. 

365.)] 

Many writers besides Dr. Poole have declared 
that the territory northwest of the Ohio was secured 
to the Republic at the treaty of peace with Great 
Britain and our vv^estern boundary fixed at the Missis- 
sippi because of the reduction of the posts of the Illi- 
nois and of those upon the Wabash. It is certain that 
Clark's success and the continuance of possession on 
part of Virginia of what he had really conquered, 
until the close of the war, were powerful arguments in 
upholding the claim of the United States to the West- 
ern country; but is it not true that England's jeal- 
ousy of Spain, who laid claim to this vast territory, 
(and of France as well, who also coveted this extensive 
region) and all other facts adduced by the Commis- 
sioners of the United States, secured what Clark's 
conquests had not been able to, in the negotiations 
which brought peace to our country ? An Indiana his- 
torian already cited says : 

"By it [Clark's Conquest] the whole territory now 
covered by the three great States of Indiana, Illinois 



794 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

and Michigan, was added to the Union, and so ad- 
mitted to be by the Commissioners on the part of Great 
Britain, at the prehminaries for the settlement of the 
treaty of peace in 1783; and but for this very conquest 
the boundaries of our territories west, would have been 
the Ohio, instead of the jNIississippi, and so acknowl- 
edged and admitted both by our own and the British 
Commissioners at that conference." (Lazv's Vin- 
cennes, pp. 21, 22.) But an examination of this whole 
subject does not warrent the conclusion arrived at by 
that writer. 

Draper, in Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American 
Biography blindly follows Law ; but Henry Pirtle in 
his "Introductory" to Clark's Campaign in the Illinois 
is more guarded :" "But for this conquest made by 
Colonel Clark for the United States — and particu- 
larly for Virginia — in the midst of the terrible strug- 
gle with England, the boundary of our land, conquered 
in the revolution from Great Britain, would, in all 
probability [the italicising is ours], have been the east- 
ern bank of the Ohio, or the Allegheny mountains, 
instead of the eastern shore of the Mississippi." 

Says Mr. R. G. Thwaites in the Collections of the 
State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. XI, p. 114 
n: "While due credit should be given to Clark for 
his daring and successful undertaking, we must not 
forget that England's jealousy of Spain, and shrewd 
diplomacy on the part of America's peace plenipoten- 
tiaries, were factors even more potent in winning the 
Northwest for the United States." 

One of the historians before cited reasons thus : 

"It is not easy to tell what were the decisive ar- 
guments in this Western controversy. It is often said. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. -795 



and particularly by Western writers, that the issue 
turned mainly on the George Rogers Clark conquest. 
This view rests on tradition rather than on historical 
evidence, and I venture the opinion that it is largely 
erroneous. No man, at least, can read the reports on 
the national boundaries submitted to Congress without 
seeing that far more reliance was laid, by the commit- 
tees that prepared them, on the Colonial charters than 
on Clark's great achievement. The report of August 
i6, 1782, urges the argument: The very country in 
question hath been conquered through the means of 
the" common labors of the United States [but it was 
only a small part of the country ; and it can scarcely 
be said, with truth, that what was conquered, was 
through the means of the common labors of the 
United States. It was so nearly a Virginia conquest, 
pure and simple, that it ought, with justice, to be 
called such.] For a considerable distance beyond the 
Alleghany Mountains, and particularly on the Ohio, 
American citizens are settled at this day .... 
who will be thrown back within the power of Great 
Britain if the Western territory is surrendered to her.' 
"But the same report contains page after page 
of arguments based on the charters and on colonial 
history. It was indeed most fortunate that the Vir- 
ginia troops were in possession of the Illinois and the 
Wabash at the close of the war, but there is no reason 
to think that the Clark conquest, separate and apart 
from the colonial titles, ever would have given the 
United States the Great West. Writing to Secretary 
Livingston, the American commissioners give color to 
the idea that the decision turned on the charters and 
not on the conquest. They say the Court of Great 



796 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC, 

Britain 'claimed not only all the lands in the Western 
country and on the Mississippi, which were not ex- 
pressly included in our charters and government, but 
also all such lands within them as remained ungranted 
by the King of Great Britain.' 'It would be endless,' 
they add, 'to enumerate all the discussions and argu- 
ments on the subject.' It is highly probable that the 
British ministry, seeing that the West would go to 
Spain if not to the United States, preferred to give it 
the latter direction. Moreover, the Clark conquest 
was much more potent in keeping the West from fall- 
ing into the hands of Spain than in wresting it from 
the hands of Great Britain." (Hinsdale: The Old 
Northzvest, pp. 183, 184.) 

But upon one point all writers of Western history 
who have mentioned the success of Clark and his rnen 
in the conquest of the Illinois and Wabash towns 
agree : they all praise the sagacity, valor, perseverance 
and patriotism displayed. 

"Of this expedition," says an Indiana historian, in 
speaking of the one against Vincennes, although at the 
same time having in his mind also the one against Kas- 
kaskia, ''of its result, of its importance, of the merits 
of those engaged in it, of their bravery, of their skill, 
of their prudence, of their success, a volume would not 
be sufficient for the details. Suffice it to say, that, in 
my opinion, — and I have accurately and critically 
weighed and examined all the results produced by 
any contests in which we were engaged during the 
revolutionary war, — for bravery, for hardships en- 
dured, for skill and consummate tact and prudence on 
the part of the commander, obedience, discipline, and 
love of country on the part of his followers; for the 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 797 

immense benefits acquired, and signal advantages ob- 
tained by it for the whole Union, it was second to no 
enterprise undertaken during that struggle." . . . 
(John Law: Colonial History of Vincennes, p. 21.) 
"When we consider the small force employed, the 
boldness of the enterprise, the brilliancy of its execu- 
tion, and the vast consequences which have resulted 
from it, this expedition may well challenge all history 
for a parallel." (Henry's Patrick Henry, vol. I, p. 
580.) 

"With respect to the magnitude of its design," 
says Dillon History of Indiana, pp.- 114, 115), "the 
valor and perseverence with which it was carried on, 
and the momentous results which were produced by it, 
this expedition stands without a parallell in the early 
annals of the valley of the Mississippi." 



NOTE CXXXVIII. 

CLARK''S IDEA OF THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN KEN- 
TUCKY IN 1783. 

"Prejudice and party disputes and the want of 
aids from Government have, in a great measure been 
the occasion of reducing this Department to a defence- 
less state, at a time when we might suppose they [the 
people of Kentucky] were rising superior to the enemy 
they have to contend with. . . Emmissaries are 
among them, dividing their councils, and destroying 
their interest at the seat of Government. [These are] 
ready to take advantage of the first opportunity to 



798 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

separate them from the State they Hve in for the ad- 
vantage of a few individuals, who, at present, rejoice 
at every misfortune they meet with." (Clark to the 
Board of Commissioners to Settle Western Accounts, 
February 25, 1783 — Calendar of Virginia State 
Papers, vol. Ill, pp. 448, 449.) 



NOTE CXXXIX. 

AS TO VIRGINIAN'S SUBSEQUENT TREATMENT OF CLARK. 

Virginia did not neglect or refuse to settle Clark's 
accounts made necessary because of his expeditions 
to Kaskaskia and Vincennes. At his dismissal from 
the "State Line" service, he had no cause of complaint 
and made none.* No suits were afterward brought 
against him by private parties for money or necessaries 
supplied his army by negotiations or impressment while 
engaged in the West either as a Virginia Lieutenant 
Colonel or Brigadier General, as has been so often 
asserted (but particularly in Butler's Kentucky, p. 
153)- 



NOTE CXL. 

VIRGINIANS DEED OF CESSION TO THE UNITED STATES SO 
FAR AS RELATES TO CLARK AND HIS MEN. 

In the deed of cession of March i, 1784, made by 
Virginia and accepted by the United States, were these 

* The general but erroneous idea is,' that Clark was arbi- 
trarily and without just cause turned out of office. 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 790 

words : "That a quantity not exceeding one hundred 
and fifty thousand acres of land, promised by Vir- 
ginia, shall be allowed and granted to the then Colonel, 
now [late] General George Rogers Clark, and to the 
officers and soldiers of his regiment, who marched with 
him when the posts of Kaskaskia and Vincennes were 
reduced, and to the officers and soldiers that have been 
since incorporated into the said regiment, to be laid 
off in one tract, the length of which is not to exceed 
double the breadth, in such place on the northwest side 
of the Ohio as a majority of the officers shall choose, 
and to be afterwards divided among the officers and 
soldiers in due proportion, according to the laws of 
Virginia." 



NOTE CXLI. 

CONCERNING CLARK's INTEMPERANCE. 

It is wholly unnecessary in our narrative to in- 
quire how early in life Clark acquired a liking for 
strong drink. We know that before the ending of 
the Illinois expedition he drank at least once to excess. 
When in October, 1782, he asked to be recalled from 
his command in the West, the habit had increased 
upon him and by reason of that fact he had lost some- 
thing of the confidence of the people of Kentucky al- 
though he led a large force from the settlements 
against the savages, with success, in November fol- 
lowing. 

"General Clark is in that country," wrote a Vir- 
ginian, on the third of October, 1782, in speaking of 
Kentucky, "but he has lost the confidence of the peo- 



800 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 

pie and it is said become a sot; perhaps something 
worse." (Arthur Campbell to Wm. Davies: Calendar 
of Virginia State Papers, vol. Ill, pp. 337, 338.) But 
his having ''become a sot," it will be noticed is only 
hearsay and beyond question was not true; though it 
is evident that the General's intemperance brought on 
many troubles (mostly of them imaginary, however), 
which increased his desire to give up his command. 

During the next three years, his habit made in- 
roads upon both his body and mind. It is painful to 
read his maudlin talk about his own adventures, in- 
dulged in while acting as one of the United States 
Commissioners in negotiating the treaty of January 
31, 1786, with the savages at Fort Finney. {Memoirs 
of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, vol. VII, 
pp. 216-218) 

"The cruel ingratitude," says a Western writer 
who visited Clark when poverty and sickness had 
claimed him as their own, "to which this distinguished 
soldier was doomed, for which no justifiable cause can 
be assigned, and the comparative poverty which made 
him almost a pensioner on the bounty of his relatives, 
was more than he could bear. It drove him to in- 
temperance. He sought the inebriating bowl, as if it 
contained the water of Lethe, and could obliterate from 
his memory the wrongs he had endured." But Clark 
was not driven to intemperance by "cruel ingratitude" : 
and "the wrongs he had endured" were mostly imag- 
inary. 

It m^ay be stated in connection with this much-to- 
be-deplored habit of Clark, that most of the errors in 
his Memoir generally attributed (perhaps charitably) 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 801 

to his old age, are directly traceable (as we have al- 
ready hinted) to his intemperance. 

This cloud which darkened more than half of 
Clark's Hfe, is a sad subject to dwell upon; and it is 
creditable to the writers of Western history who have 
spoken of it that they have done so in a spirit of kind- 
ness. 

"Clark's later life is little to his credit, but it 
should not be forgotten that he rendered the American 
cause and civilization a very great service." {Hins- 
dale: The Old Northzvest, pp. 157,158.) 



NOTE CXLII. 



AN ERRONEOUS TRADITION AS TO CLARK S ATTACHMENT 
FOR THE DAUGHTER OF THE SPANISH GOVERNOR. 

The following tradition mentioned by Draper in 
his article on Clark in Appleton's Cyclopaedia of 
American Biography, is wholly erroneous ; for as a 
matter of fact, Clark never visited St. Louis to aid in 
its defense or to relieve it from an Indian attack: 
"The freedom of Clark's early life had unfitted him 
for domestic happiness, and he never married. A tra- 
dition is preserved in the family that he was fascin- 
ated with the beauty of the daughter of the Spanish 
governor of St. Louis when he relieved that post 
from an Indian attack. Observing a want of courage 
in the governor, he broke off his addresses to the girl, 
saying to his friends: T will not be the father of a 
race of cowards.' " 

*5.1 



802 HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 
NOTE CXLIIL 

PORTRAITS OF GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 

Concerning the so-called ''J^^^vis portrait" of 
Clark, the late talented and much-lamented librarian 
of Newberry library says : 

'The only portrait [from life] of him [Clark] 
sextant was painted by John W. Jarvis, an English 
artist, who began business in New York in 1801, and 
painted the heads of many distinguished Americans. 
He made a trip West and South, during which he 
made many portraits. The picture of Clark represents 
him about sixty years of age. The best engraving of 
it is in the National Portrait Gallery, IV., with a 
biography. It is the frontispiece of Butler's Kentucky, 
1834, of Dillon's Indiana, 1859, and in the Cincinnati 
edition of Clark's Campaign; and wood-cuts are in 
Lossing's Field-Book, II, 287; Magazine of Western 
History, II, 133; Harper's Magazine, XXVIII, 302; 
[Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 
article ''George Rogers Clark"] ; etc. It has been 
many, times reproduced with a modification of details. 
There have been many rumors as to the existence of 
a portrait taken earlier in life. Every alleged portrait 
of an earlier date which I could hear of, I have looked 
up, and find they are all copies or modifications of the 
"Jarvis picture." (Dr. Wm. Frederick Poole, in "The 
West" — Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of 
America, vol. VI, p. 733, foot-note 4.) 

Under a poor engraving in the Magazine of 
American History, vol. XXI, p. 387, is the following; 



HISTORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST, ETC. 



"Gkorge Rogers CivArk, 
After the only oil painting of Clark from life 

in existence. 

[In possession of the Vincennes University, 

Vincennes, Indiana]." 



We have in this the assertion not only that the 
portrait of Clark in the University of Vincennes is 
from life, but that it is the only one in existence thus 
painted. The statement is made by E. A. Bryan, in 
an article entitled "Indiana's First Settlement." Now, 
as it is evident the Vincennes painting is not the one, 
executed by Jarvis, it follows that (if what is said 
by that writer be a certainty), not only another por- 
trait was taken from life, but the Jarvis paintmg is 
not in existence. But can all this be substantiated? 
We think not. It is safe to conclude that the Vin- 
cennes portrait is not genuine. 



INDEX. 



Abbott, David, Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor at Vincennes, 49, 106. 

Battles— Blue Licks, 492; Point 
Pleasant, 4. 

Bayley, 711. 

Beaubien, Charles— Affords Clark 
an escape, 297; Arrives at De- 
troit, 175; Army of, captures 
Boone, 92; Hamilton sends 
message by, 248; obtains in- 
formation from, 663. 

Beaver Dam, 210. 

Bird, Captain, arrives at De- 
troit, 648. 

Blue Licks — British Victory at, 
492; Boone captured at, 570. 

Boone, Daniel, Capture of, 91, 
93, 570; Escape of, 94, 199; Set- 
tles in Kentucky, 3; Letter 
from brother of, 757. 

Boonesborough — Clark defends, 
553; Indians attack, 63, 199. 

Bowman, John, 64, 98, 100, 103, 
776; At Fort Gage, 110; at Vin- 
cennes, 327; at Capture of Vin- 
cennes, 341; Captures Illinois 
towns, 123; Clark orders to 
Kaskaskia, 437; Clark sends dis- 
patches to, 131; Commandant at 
Harrodstown, 374; Describes 
Kaskaskia surrender, 114; Pro- 
vides supplies for Clark, 277; 
Reaches Kaskaskia, 294; Re- 
turns from Cahokia, 137. 

Bowman, Joseph, 779; In Illi- 
nois Campaign, 87, 89, 90; Let- 
ter to Henry concerning Clark's 
releasing prisoners, 760; On 
Rocheblave's imprisonment, 628; 
Promoted to Major, 270. 

"Bowman's Journal," 765; Errors 
in, 706; Extracts from, 718. 

British — Account of Clark's 
treatment of Rocheblave, 641; of 
fate of war party, 722; Alarm 

( 



at American success, 649; Al- 
liance with Indians, 41; Ask for 
re-enforcements, 458; Clark pro- 
poses attacking posts of, 58, 62; 
Clark sends prisoners of, to De- 
troit, 758; ridicules in presence 
of Indians, 142; threatens to 
put into irons officers, 739 
treatment of, 79; Disappoint 
ments of , 480; Encroachments of 
1; Excitement over Clark's cam 
paign, 460; Great Lakes held by^ 
15; Imprisoned at Williamsburg, 
400; Indians incited by, 10, 14 
16, 17, 33, 150, 168; Indian pol- 
icy of, 51; Interest of in North 

— west Territory, vi; March of 
prisoners from Falls of Ohio to 
Chesterfield, 744; Number of 
prisoners taken by Clark, 742; 
Prisoners taken by, 744; Protest 
to Hamilton's imprisonment, 
387; Receive news of fall of 
Vincennes, 374; Regret for 
Hamilton's imprisonment, 457; 
Treatment of American prison- 
ers, 408, 

Broadhead, Daniel, Succeeds Mc- 
intosh, 266. 

Brule, Butterfield, publishes book 
on, xvii. 

Butler, Mann, On Clark's plan oi 
government, 522; On Clark's re- 
cruiting troubles, 564. 

Butterfield, Consul Wiltshire, Be- 

- queaths MSS., iii; Character of, 
ix; Death of, ix; Domestic life 
of, xi-xix; Early life of, ix; 
Historical writings of, xii; 
Literary ability of, x; Profes- 
sional life of, xii; Sketch of, 
ix; Studies law, xii; Wash- 
ington - Irvine correspondence 
published by, xiv. 

805) 



806 



INDEX. 



Cahokia— Bowman captures, 123; 
Bowman returns from, 137; 
Clark holds Indian Council at, 
140, 635; Clark marches to relief 
of, 490; Clark's plan of with- 
drawing garrison from, 284. 

Campbell, John, 101. 

Carleton, General — Incites In- 
dians, 11, 19, 39; Indian Coun- 
cil held by, 44; Rocheblave's 
letter to, 136. 

Celeron, De— Clark attempts cap- 
ture of, 193; Hamilton declares 
unfitness of, 242; Hamilton's ac- 
count of surrender of, 195; In- 
cites Indians, 190; Indian em- 
bassy of, 157, 158; Return to 
Hamilton, 202; Suspected of 
treachry, 206. 

Cerre, Gabriel, 114, 120, 121, 122; 
British accou-nt of Clark's treat- 
ment of, 641; Clark accuses of 
inciting Indians, 132; Clark's 
treatment of, 625. 

Chapoton, Jean, Friendship of, 
for Americans, 175. 

Chesne, Capt., 344. 

Chesterfield, British prisoners 
taken to, 744; Hamilton re- 
moved to, 412. 

Chevelier, Louis, Aids Hamilton, 
232, 236; Indian influence of, 
182. 

Chiefs— "Big Door," 191; Black- 
bird, 148; Conrachon, r47; Ki- 
naytounak, 147; Tobac, 662. 

"Chillicothe"— Boone at, 92, 94. 

Clark, George Rogers— Activity 
of, in Illinois, 281; Appearance 
of, in Vincennes, 714; Apple 
toddy episode, 714; Arrives at 
Vincennes, 472; As a horse- 
trader, 69, 541; Asks for pow- 
der, 521; Asks for provisions, 
449; Asks for reinforcements, 
302; Assigns commandants at 
posts, 482; Attachment for 
Spanish woman, 801; Begins 
movement in Illinois Campaign, 
86, 90; Builds Ft. JeflFerson, 490; 
Butterfield MSS., on conquest 



of, xviii; Buys lottery ticket, 
545; Commissioned Lieutenant- 
Colonel, 74; Commissioner to 
Ohio Indians, 498; Connection 
with Genet affair, 508; Crosses 
Kaskaskia River, 598; Demands 
surrender of Vincennes, 346; 
Desertions from army of, 506; 
Diary of, his trip back to Vir- 
ginia, 70; Diary, of, while Ma- 
jor of Kentucky militia, 56; 
Disappointment of, concerning 
reinforcements, 455; Discretion- 
ary powers given to, 560; Dissi- 
pation of, 506; Distance trav- 
eled, expedition to Vincennes, 
704; Dunmore's War, in, 3; 
Early life of, 3; Encourages his 
men, 709; Erects no post at 
mouth of Kentucky, 574; Eulogy 
on, 555; Extracts from diary of, 
537, 544; Families follow expe- 
dition of, 567; Force of, cm 
leaving Corn Island, 581; Ham- 
ilton's presence ascertained by, 
286; Hamilton's second meeting 
with, 725; Henry's instructions 
to, 274; Hunters captured by, 
589; Importance of expedition 
of, v; Indian attack on the 
Licking, 37; Indian conspiracy 
to carry off, 632; Intemperance 
of, 799; Interview with Black- 
bird, 637; Journal of, on tak- 
ing Vincennes, 757; Journey 
of, from Kentucky to Virginia, 
31; Kaskaskia, returns to, 764; 
Kentuckians in campaign of, 
577; Kentucky Indian invasion, 
on, 499; Kentucky troops, com- 
manded by, 53, 505; Last "Gen- 
eral orders" of, 779; Leaves 
Kaskaskia for Vincennes, 807; 
Leaves Kentucky, 68; Letters 
of, to Capt. Lernoult, 760; Let- 
ters of, to Col, Harrison, 755; 
Letters of, to George Mason, 
540; Letters of, to Patrick 
Henry, 754; MSS. on, vi; Per- 
manently made a hero, 537; 
Personal appearance and death 



INDEX. 



807 



of, 508; Plans for government, 
23, 28, 522; Pledges given to, 
561; Portraits of, 802; Principal 
persons with Vincennes expedi- 
tion, 306; Promoted to Col- 
onelcy, 270; Proposes attacking 
British Posts, 58; Proposes cam- 
paign against Illinois, 74, 76; 
Purpose in leaving Kentucky, 
17, 77, 546; Reaches Williams- 
burg, 71; Receives present of 
land from Indians, 481, 486; Re- 
cruiting troubles of, 564; Re- 
fuses Hamilton's articles of 
capitulation, 359; Relinquishes 
idea of attacking Detroit, 481; 
Replies to Hamilton, 354; Re- 
sults of conquest of, 789; Resig- 
nation of , from army, 493, 496; 
Return with powder to Ken- 
tucky, 37; Second visit of, to 
Kentucky, 21, 25, 26, 27; Se- 
cures powder from Virginia, 34; 
Sends spies into Illinois coun- 
try, 59, 550; Settlement of ac- 
count, as Major, 542; Speech 
of, to Kaskaskians, 616; Super- 
intends survey of lands, 495; 
Sword presented -to, 485,' 782; 
Todd asks, for assistance, 501; 
Too much credit given to, lor 
Harrodsburg meeting, 525; 
Treatment of prisoners, 368; 
Treaty of Ft. Mcintosh, 497; 
Troubles with guide on march 
from Kaskaskia, 595; Uses Vigo 
at Vincennes, 689; Virginia 
Legislative Act for campaign, 
557; Virginia's treatment of, 
798; Visits Kentucky, 4, 511; 
Wheeling and Pittsburg, at, 
568; Writes Gov. Henry, about 
Detroit, 446; Writes Gov. Henry 
about his success, 267; Writes 
Gov. Henry about lands for sol- 
diers, 428. 
Clark's Campaign— Cost of, 4S5; 
Results of, for government, 48^ 
Clark's Journal, 772. 
Clark's Memoir, 512, 



"Clarksville" in honor of Clarkj 
497. 

Connolly, John, Prepares to in- 
vade Northwest, 7. 

Corn Island— Clark on, 576; 
Clark's defensive works on, 584; 
Families of soldiers left on, 583i 

De Leybe— Clark's Conviviality 
with, 640. 

De Jean, Philip, 215, 738; Pa' 
roled at Williamsburg, 407; 
Prisoner in Virginia, 378; Vir- 
ginia Council's accusations 
against, 380. 

De Peyster, Captain— Arouses In- 
dians, 14; Clark's Campaign, in, 
462; Complains of non-reinforce- 
ment, 477; Describes Clark's 
treatment of Rocheblave, 643; 
Ignorant of Hamilton's Illinois 
plans, 187; Indian negotiations 
of, 231, 233; Instructs Langlade 
and Gautier, 676; Learns of 
Clark's intended attack, 475; 
Prepares for Clark's attack, 476, 
(See Detroit) ; S&nds envoys to 
Indians, 184; Reports Clark's 
success to Hamilton, 181. 

Detroit— Anticipates Clark's at- 
tack, 474; Boone at, 92; British 
treat with Indians at, 16; 
Clark's anxiety to march 
against, 775; Clark's plan for 
capture of, 83, 430, 445, 470; 
Clark's second plan for reduc- 
tion of, 491; Clark sends Brit- 
ish prisoners to, 759; Clark 
sends troops for reduction of, 
468; Date of Hamilton's arrival 
at, 516; De Peyster at, 237; De 
Peyster fortifies, 465; Errors 
concerning Hamilton's force at, 
673; Hamilton holds Indian 
Council at, 153; Hamilton's 
force at, 643; Henry advises 
Clark to attack, 279; Indians 
wintered at, 40; Reinforcements 
for, 459; Weakness of garrison 
at, 176. 



808 



INDEX. 



Dodge, John— Hamilton on, 406; 
Interviews savages at Sandusky, 
517; Narrative of, when prisoner 
of British, 744; Receives word 
of imprisonment of Hamilton, 
386; Visits Williamsburg, 386, 
392, 403. 

Dunmore, Lord— Incites Indians, 
168; Recommends certain Tories, 
43. 

Dunmore's War— Clark in, 4. 

Embarrass River— Clark's march 
along, 314; Clark's route from 
Kaskaskia to, 708. 

Falls of Ohio— Clark's fort at, 
491, 781; Clark's rendezvous at, 
565; Fate of war party returning 
from, 719; Fiction concerning 
Clark's military post at, 580; 
March of British prisoners 
from, to Chesterfield, 744. 

Forbes, Road of, 1. 

Forts— Bowman, 138, 188; Clark 
assigns commandants at, 482; 
Clark erects, 138, 188; Erected 
at mouth of Ohio, 80, 102; Falls 
of Ohio, at, 781; Gage, 18, 138; 
Gage, capture of, 109, 598; 
Hamilton's reasons for sur- 
rendering, 727; Henry, Indians 
attack, 48; Jefferson, Clark 
erects, 490; Laurens, Mcintosh 
builds, 266; Massac, 589; Mas- 
sac, Clark at, 103, 106; Miami, 
Hamilton sends force to, 261 ; 
Michilimackinac, 13; Nelson, 
Clark erects, 491; Patrick Hen- 
ry, garrison at, 438; Pitt, 7; 
Pitt, Clark at, 91, 530; Pitt, 
Virginians garrison, 48; Ran- 
dolph, 96; Sackville, 138; Ac- 
cidental explosion of cartridges 
at, 728; American rescue, 130; 
Articles of surrender of, 725; 
Attack and surrender of, 729; 
Building of, 49; Changed to 
"Ft. Patrick Henry," 364; 
Clark hears news from, 316; 
Clark's description of surrender 
of, 731; Clark takes possession 
of, 728; Hamilton's force at, 



681; Hamilton's plan for de- 
fense of, 246; Hamilton 
strengthens, 252, 262; Hehn 
takes charge of, 189; Surrender 
of, 362, 668; Williams escapes 
from 709; St. Joseph, 478; Wea, 
213. 

French — Butterfield's historical 
writings on, xiii; Clark on alli- 
ance with, 450; Clark receives 
news of alliance with U. S., 
579; Hamilton's opinions on, 
160; Henry's instructions con- 
cerning, 275; Henry's sugges- 
tions concerning, 270; Number 
of colonists of, 213; Traders, 
complain to Helm, concerning 
goods, 192. 

Frenchman— Clark orders death 
of, 353; Joins Clark's forces, 
319. 

Gautier, Lieut. — Commands In- 
dians, 186; De Peyster's in- 
structions to, 676; Indian nego- 
tiations of, 234. 

Germain, Lord George — Letter of, 
to Carleton, approving his In- 
dian plan, 41. 

Gibault, Father Pierre, 784; Ab- 
solution for Clark's men, 307; 
Aids in winning Vincennes, 129, 
617; Consults with Clark, 115, 
119; Diplomacy of, at Vin- 
cennes, 657; Hamilton's hatred 
for, 288; Intervenes tor Vigo, 
691; Kaskaskia, at 287. 

Girtys, The— Butterfield's history 
of, XV ; Join British, 467. 

Government — Clark's plan of, 522. 

Gunpowder — Clark and Jones ask 
for, 521; Clark's supply at Vin- 
cennes, 716; Transmission of to 
Kentucky settlement, 528. 

Haldimand, Frederick — ^Apprised 
of Clark's plans on Detroit, 480; 
Commander of Quebec, vi; 
Concern for Hamilton at Wil- 
liamsburg, 408; Criticises Ham- 
ilton, at Vincennes, 678; Gover- 
nor of Quebec, 155; Hamilton 
writes to, 398; Hamilton's pa- 



INDEX. 



809 



role, on, 424; Plans to retake 
Kaskaskia, 163; Requests De 
Peyster to get Indian aid, 233; 
Retaliates for Hamilton's im- 
prisonment, 413. 
Hamilton, Col.— Accused of in- 
citing Indians, 379; American 
prisoners taken by, 216; Apple 
Toddy incident, 715; Army of, 
180; Army of, Little River at, 
207; Army, strength oi , 207; 
Attacks Vincennes, 220; Au- 
thorized to employ Indians, 
534; Begins march, 181; Boone 
prisoner of, 93; Capitulations 
submitted to Clark, 358; Clark 
paroles, 371; Clark suspects of 
inciting Indians, 282; Clark's 
reason for capturing, 697; 
Clark's second meeting with, 
725; Clark's treatment of white 
prisoner, on, 740; Commandant 
at Detroit, 12, 16; Complains of 
treatment at Williamsburg, 385; 
Date of arrival at Detroit, 516; 
Death of, 424; Describes impris- 
onment, 375, 396, 421; Describes 
Wabash Portage, 208; Effect of 
capture of, 461; Errors con- 
cerning force of, 673; Force of, 
at Detroit, 648; Force of, at Ft. 
Sackville, 681; Force of, at 
Vincennes, 239, 677; Goes to 
Montreal, 46; Haldimand criti- 
cises at Vincennes, 678; Holds 
Indian Council, 173; Imprison- 
ment, on, 410; Incites Indians, 
39, 150, 153, 647; Indian policy 
of, 169; Indians aid, 166, 178; 
Indians sent into Kentucky by, 
65; Jefferson accuses of inciting 
Indians, 391; Jefferson on im- 
prisonment of, 405; Jefferson re- 
fuses exchange for, 414; Journey 
of, from Williamsburg, 418; 
Learns of Clark's success, 183; 
Lieutenant Governor at Quebec, 
424; Marches against Illinois, 
284; Marches to Kaskaskia, 295; 
Marches against Mcintosh, ZS3; 
March of, to Vincennes, 652; 



Oath administered to citizens of 
Vincennes by, 674; Officers of, 
650; Official report of, 748; 
Plans for campaign, 170; Plans 
to aid Haldimand, 161; Plans to 
retake Kaskaskia, 162; Prisoner 
at Falls of Ohio, 374; Prisoner 
in Virginia, 378; Proposals to 
Clark at Ft. Sackville, 718; Rea- 
son for fall of Vincennes, by, 
364; Reinforcements for, 213; 
Remains at Vincennes, 230; Re- 
moved from Williamsburg to 
Chesterfield, 412; Replies to 
Clark's demand for surrender, 
348; Sails for England, 423; 
Sends force to Falls of Ohio, 
260; Signs parole, 415; South- 
ern Indians favorable to, 246; 
Ulterior designs of, in Illinois 
Campaign, 678; Urges Wabash 
Indians to assist British, 158; 
Vigo's information concerning, 
696; Vincennes, at, 334, 345; 
Winters at Vincennes, 239; 
Why he wintered at Vincennes, 
675; Writes to Haldimand, con- 
cerning Indian allies, 159. 
Hand, General — Commander of 
Western Dep't., 265; Furnishes 
supplies in Illinois Campaign, 91. 
Harmar, Josiah, 504. 
Harrison, Benj. — Clark relieves 
of command, 496; Clark writes 
to, 429, 755. 
Harrod, Capt, 87, 90, 103, 563. 
Harrod, James, 2. 
Harrodsburg — Attacked by In- 
dians, 63; Clark's meeting of 
citizens at, 26; Meeting of June 
6, 1776, 520; Mythical account 
of Indian sieges of, 535; Made 
county seat, 53. 
Harrodstown — Hamilton prisoner 

at, 374. 
Hay, Major John, 259, 733; Jef- 
ferson paroles, 416; Letter of, 
to Capt. Brehm, 644; Lieutenant- 
Governor of Detroit, 424; Taken 
to Williamsburg, 399; Vin- 
cennes, sent to capture, 218. 



610 



INDEX. 



Helm, Capt. Leonard, 103, 732; 
Apple Toddy incident, 714; At- 
tachment of Tobac's son, 680; 
Bancroft's views concerning 
speech of, 664; Captures St, 
Martin's Convoy, 736; Clark's 
conference with, 355; Council 
with Delawares, 444; Council 
with Piankeshaws, 6o5; Fiction 
concerning, 667; Force of, sent 
to Vincennes, 653; Hamilton 
sends flag of truce to, 351; 
Holds council with Indians, 191; 
Illinois campaign, in, 88, 89, 90; 
Paroled at Vincennes, 241; Re- 
turn of, to Vincennes, 367; 
Sent to intercept British at 
Miami, 366; Sent to Ft. Sack- 
ville, 188; Surrenders at Vin- 
cennes, 223; Treats with Wa- 
bash Indians, 190. 

Henderson, Richard — Kentucky 
settled by, 2. 

Henderson's Land Company— Ac- 
tions of, 23. 

Henry, Moses— Clark receives 
news by, 332; Vincennes, at, 
669. 

Henry, Patrick — Clark's campaign, 
on, 451; Clark's letter to, 754; 
Errors in private instructions 
given to Clark, 560; Favors 
Transylvania, 31; Gives discre- 
tionary powers to Clark, 560; 
Instructions to Clark, 81, 274, 
685; Instructions to Todd, 271; 
Orders Clark to secure Linn and 
Moore, 559; Part of, in Illinois 
Campaign, 74, 76; Sends militia 
against Indians, 54; Suggests 
plan of campaign to Clark, 280; 
Supports Clark, 268; Writes 
Washington concerning condi- 
tion in West, 376. 

Holston Recruits — Escape of, 574. 

Horse Shoe Plain — Clark crosses, 
320. 

Hunter, W. H.— MSS. bequeathed 
to, iii; Sketch of Butterfield by, 
ix. 



Illinois Campaign, 74, 76; Clark's 
aides in, 87; Advance in, 97; 
force in, 157; Last general or- 
ders in, 779; Plan in, 82; De- 
serters in, 100; Funds for, 85; 
Hamilton's designs in, 679; In- 
dians, absence of in, 126; Op- 
position to, 97, 89; Supplies for, 
80; Virginia profits by, 785. 

Illinois — Clark captures with ease, 
125; Hamilton's campaign in, 
226. 

Illinois County, 469; Extent of, 
686; Virginia establishes, 269, 
681. 

Indians, 720, 787; Barbarity of, 
168; British aided by, 463, 168, 
162; Alliance with, 41, 462; In- 
cite, 10, 14, 16, 17, 33, 39, 150, 
502, 546; Offer rewards for 
American scalps, 113; Supply 
provisions for, 464; Cerre in- 
cites, 132; Conspiracy to cap- 
ture Clark, 632; Clark attacks, 
353; Ambush near, 296; Ab- 
sence of, in campaign of, 126; 
Commissioner to the Ohio, 498; 
Council with, at Cahokia, 140; 
145, 635; at Vincennes, 761; 
Gives treaty letters to, 147; In- 
terview with Blackbird, 637; 
Makes peace with, 138; Party 
of, attacked by, 37; Present 
land to, 481, 486; Proclamation 
of, to, 436; Punishment by, to, 
633; Success with, 436, 447 
Treaties with, 139, 147, 434 
Delaware, Clark subdues, 442 
De Peyster's negotiations with, 
231, 233, 476; Dodge's interview 
with at Sandusky, 517; Fort 
Henry attacked by, 48; Frontier 
warfare of, 36; Depredation of, 
on, 48; Number sent from De- 
troit, 45, 46; Hamilton, at- 
tempts confederation of, 242; 
Authorized to employ, 534; 
Council with, 173; at Detroit, 
154; at Vincennes, 253; Forces 
joined by, 212; Hopes for as- 



INDEX. 



811 



sistance from, 258; Incites, 154, 
379, 411, 647; Partizanship with, 
741; Sends agents to, in south, 
240, 246; Secures aid from, 166, 
171, 178; Use of, 679; Helm, 
Council with, 188; sent as agent 
to, 188; Henry, instructions 
concerning, 83, 271, 274, 279; 
Illinois Campaign, position of, 
in, 663; Illinois, The, 20; 
Moore and Linn go to, 535; 
Morgan designs against, 518; 
Jefferson, accuses Hamilton ot 
inciting, 391; Kentucky, Cam- 
paign of, against, 503; Forts of, 
attacked by, 63, 65, 66; Invaded 
by, 35, 54, 65, 66; Threatened 
by, 498; Miami, The, Clark, 
marches against, 492; Pennsyl- 
vania, depredations of, in, 95; 
Potto wattamies. The, enlist 
with British, 477; Northwest, 
The, 2; Shawnee, The, Clark 
punishes, 482, 490; Spanish in- 
fluence on, 155; Sieges of Har- 
risburg and Logan Forts by, 
535; Traders killed by, 442; Vin- 
cennes, at, 130, 222, 334, 225; 
Wabash, The, Clark's failure 
against, 507; Asked to help 
British, 158; Wabash Land 
Company purchase land from, 
665. 
Jefferson, Thomas— Hamilton pa- 
roled by, 416; Hamilton's im- 
prisonment, on, 388, 405; Ham- 
ilton's refusal of parole, on, 409; 
Illinois Campaign, on, 85; Let- 
ter of, to Clark, 772; Opinion 
of Clark, 507; Pledge of, to 
Clark, 561; Replies to Washing- 
ton, concerning exchange of 
Hamilton, 414; Sends Hamilton 
to Williamsburg, 383; Suggests 
Clark's Memoir, 512; Wash- 
ington's letter to, concerning 
Hamilton's imprisonment, 402; 
Writes to Lernoult concerning 
Hamilton's imprisonment, 389; 
Writes to Washington concern- 
ing Clark's campaign, 455; 



Writes to Washington concern- 
ing Clark's attack on Detroit, 
777. 

Jesuits, at Kaskaskia, 604, 

Jones, John Gabriel— Asks for 
powder, 521; Suppression of 
name in Kentucky history^ 524; 
Illinois Campaign, in, 101; Kas- 
kaskia Campaign, in, 607, 609; 
Military record of, 621; Return 
of, from Kaskaskia, 620. 

Kentuckians in Clark's army, 101, 
577, 786. 

Kentucky, (See Transylvania), 
29; Approbation of Clark's 
Campaign in, 455; Asks protec- 
tion from Virginia, 22; British 
invade, 490; Clark and Jones 
carry gunpowder to, 531; Clark's 
idea of political situation in, 
797; Clark's second visit to, 21, 
25, 26, 27; County of, organized, 
35, 53, 523; County seat of, 53; 
Delegates from to Virginia Con- 
vention, 29; During Illinois 
Campaign, 91, 199; Growth of, 
94; Gunpowder voted for, 528; 
Indian invasion of, threatened, 
498; Indian roads in, 35; Result 
of petition to Virginia, 33, 35; 
Settlement of, 2. 

Kaskaskia, 8, 445; British account 
of capture of, 157; Capture of, 
599, 612; Clark's council with 
inhabitants of, 615; Clark's de- 
parture for Vincennes, 307; 
Clark's government at, 134, 149, 
151; Clark's march to, 108, 585; 
Clark's orders to burn, 292; 
Clark's prisoners at, 120; Clark's 
proposition to attack, 78, 81; 
Clark reaches, 109; Clark's re- 
turn to, 764; Clark's return to, 
from Vincennes, 769; Clark's re- 
turn to, from Indian Council, 
148; Clark's route from the Ohio 
to, 591; Clark's start for, from 
Vincennes, 438; De Peyster's 
account of capture of, 160; De- 
sertions at, 467; Fortifications 
at, 465; Hamilton plans to re- 



61^ 



INDEX. 



take, 162; Hamilton sends In- 
dians toward, 243; Hamilton 
sends scouts to, 241; Hamiltona 
march to, 295; History of, 602; 
Military road to, 592; Montgom- 
ery arrives at, 454; Reinforce- 
ments for, 432; Spies report to 
Clark concerning strength of, 
60; Suffering of Clark's soldiers 
on march to, 597; Surrender to 
Clark, 113, 124; Terms of sur- 
render, 118; Wabash Indians 
unsuccessful in march to, 249. 

Kaskaskia River— Ciark crosses, 
308. 

Kennedy, Patrick— Clark's Com- 
missary, 313. 

Kenton, Simon— Capture of Vin- 
cennes, at, 131. 

Lamothe, Capt.— Capture of Vin- 
cennes, at, 342; Hamilton sends 
out, 336; Imprisonment of, 378, 
422 ; Jefferson's accusations 
against, 393; Paroled at Wil- 
liamsburg, 407; Virginia Coun- 
cil's accusation against, 381; 
Volunteers of, complain, 349. 

Lands— Bounty, to Tories, 42, 44; 
Clark's soldiers, for, 486, 487; 
Clark writes Henry, concerning, 
428; Distribution of, for Clark's 
soldiers, 494; Indians deed to 
Clark, 777; Indians present to 
Clark, 481; Provided for Clark's 
soldiers, 451. 

Langlade, Capt. Chas.— De Peys- 
ter's instructions to, 676; Indian 
negotiations of, 234; Recruits 
force of Indians, 700; Services 
of, to British, 187. 

Lebyba, Don— Friendship of, for 
Clark, 151. 

Le Font, Dr. — Assists Clark in 
securing Vincennes, 129. 

Lernoult, Capt.— Aids Hamilton, 
648; Clark's letter to, 760; Ham- 
ilton sends to Ft. Miami, 176; 
Sent to Western Posts, 47; 
Writes Jefferson concerning 
Hamilton's imprisonment, 389. 



Linn, Capt. William, 101; Carries 
letter to Clark, 519; Governor 
orders Clark to arrest, 559. 

Liquors — Hamilton takes up at 
Vincennes, 245. 

Logan, Benj. — Asks for Clark's 
assistance, 499. 

Logan's Fort— lyiythical account of 
Indian sieges of, 535. 

Lord, Captain— Indian policy of, 
51. 

Louisville— Clark at, 98; Clark 
leaves, 103; Founding of, 135. 

Maisonville, Francis — Capture of, 
337; Suicide of, 412, 422; Re- 
turns to Ft. Sackville, 263; 
Treatment accorded to, 717. 

Mason, George — Clark's letter to, 
540; Pledge to Clark, 561, 785. 

Maumee— Hamilton on, 172, 203. 

McBeath — Hamilton compliments, 
422. 

McCarty, Capt. — Makes canoe for 
Clark, 314; Re-inforces Clark, 
305. 

Mcintosh, Lachlan— Commander 
at Pittsburg, 265. 

McKee, Capt. Alexander — Indian 
interpreter, 649; Joins Hamil- 
ton's army, 209; Scout of Ham- 
ilton, 174; Sent to Shawnee In- 
dians, 262. 

Miamis The — Importance of to 
British, 176. 

Miamitown — Hamilton arrives at, 
205. 

Militia — Clark raises for Illinois 
Campaign, 77; Illinois Cam- 
paign, in, 99; Increase of, in 
Kentucky, 67; Montgomery in- 
trusted to raise, 272; Organiza- 
tion of, in Kentucky, 53; Pay 
of, in Illinois Campaign, 7y; 
Provisions for, 55; Transporta- 
tion of, in Illinois Campaign, 
78. 

Moore and Linn — Go as militia to 
the Illinois, 435. 

Moore, Henry — Orders Clark to 
arrest, 559. 



INDEX. 



813 



Money— Depreciation of, 448. 

Montgomery, Col. John, 101, 103; 
Carries provisions to Vincennes, 
470; Clark sends to Virginia, 
135; Henry's instructions to, 
272; Joins Clark, 578; Military 
commander of Illinois, 484; 
Provides supplies for Clark, 
278; Recruits reinforcements 
for Clark, 453. 

Morgan, George — Appointed In- 
dian agent, 16, 18; Early de- 
signs against the Illinois, 518. 

Myers, William, 752, 754; Ar- 
rives at Vincennes with message, 
427; Carries message for Clark, 
431; Clark's warrant to, 756; 
Death of, 771; Trip to Williams- 
burg, 756. 

Northwest Territory — Extent of, 
vi. 

O'Hara, Capt. — Virginia Com- 
pany, of, 572. 

Ohio River — Clark's prisoners 
convoyed down, 373. 

Pelham — Hamilton writes to, con- 
cerning imprisonment, 395. 

Phillips, Gen. — Protests against 
Hamilton's imprisonment, 387. 

Piankeshaws deed land to Clark, 
777. 

Pioneers — Discouragement of Ken- 
tucky, 69. 

Pittsburg— Clark at, 568. 

Point Pleasant— Clark at, 97. 

Pollock, Oliver, ^^SSf ^-^V- 

Potier, Pierre — British oath of al- 
legiance by, 180. 

Prairie De Roches— Clark at, 285. 

Prisoners^British, jailed in Vir- 
ginia, 378; Clark sends to Falls 
of Ohio, 372; Clark's disposition 
of, 433; Virginia Council passes 
on, 383. 

Quebec Act — Passage of, 13. 

Quebec (Province) — Colonists in- 
vade, 19. 

Redstone — Clark's embarkation 
from, 565. 



Robinson, Andrew— Carries news 
of Hamilton's imprisonment to 
Dodge, 386. 

Rocheblave, M., 61, 106, Arrives 
at Williamsburg, 267; Bowman 
on arrest of, 628; British ac- 
count of Clark's treatment of, 
641; Breaks parole, 411; Capture 
of, 611; Clark places in irons, 
120, 121; Commandant at Port 
Gage, 19; Helm to be exehaflged 
for, 241; Henry instructs con- 
cerning family of, 272, 277; Im- 
peachment of, 156, 157; Indian 
policy of, 51; Surrenders to 
Clarkj 111; Taken prisoner to 
Virginia, 135; Writes Carleton a 
letter, 136. 

Rogers Lieut. — Part taken in cap- 
ture of Vincennes, 304. 

Roosevelt, Theodore— Butterfield 
criticises, xvi; Erroneous state- 
ment of, in "Winning of the 
West," 568; Failure of, to men- 
tion Jones, 524; Feasts enjoyed 
by Clark's men, 707; Pledges 
to Clark, 562. 

Sackville Fort — (See Forts and 
Vincennes.) 

Saline River — Clark crosses, 309. 

Sandusky — Dodge's interview with 
Indians at, 577. 

Saunder, John, Losing of, 108. 

Schieffelin, Jacob, 572; Asks for 
parole, 407; Describes Hamil- 
ton's imprisonment, 384; Escape 
of, 411, 422. 

Shelby, Col. Isaac, 56; Prepares 
boats for expedition, 273. 

Sinclair, Patrick, British Com- 
missioner to incite Indians, 14. 

Slaughter, Major, Raises force 
for Clark, 279. 

Smith, Wm. B., 563; IlHnois 
Campaign, in, 87, 90. 

Smyth, John, British messenger, 
9. 

Spanish — Aid Americans, ^49; 
Clark advised to get aid from, 



814 



INDEX. 



291; ■ Clark's attachment to 
daughter of governor, 801; Clark's 
relations with, 151; Clark seizes 
property of, 506; Friendship of, 
for Clark, 128; Kaskaskia Cam- 
paign, 160; Neutral position of, 
57; Vigo, merchant, 688. 

"Spoils" of Vincennes, 370. 

St. Clair, William— Imprisoned at 
Williamsburg, 410. 

St. Croix, 721; Killing of, 353. 

St. Joseph— British erect fort at, 
478. 

St. Martin, Adhemar, 651; Clark 
intercepts, 366; Helm captures 
convoy of, 736. 

St, Philips— Bowman captures, 
123. 

Stuart, John, Indian agent for 
Hamilton, 240. 

Todd, Col. John, 449, 775; Ac- 
companies Clark, 606; Arrives 
at Kaskaskia, 453; Henry's in- 
structions to, 270; Indians de- 
feat at Blue Licks, 532; Lieu- 
tenant of Illinois County, 269; 
Organizes Civil government for 
Kaskaskia, 469. 

Todd, Levi, writes Governor 
Henry concerning Indian at- 
tacks, 501. 

Towles, Col., offered in exchange 
for Hamilton, 415. 

Treaty of Ft. Mcintosh, 497. 

Transylvania — (See Kentucky) 
Asks protection from Virginia, 
22; Clark opposes, 6. 

Transylvania Company, 1, 527. 

Vigo, Col. Francis, 784; Arrives 
at Kaskaskia, 298; Clark's er- 
rors as to information from, 
694; Visits Vincennes, 586. 

Vincennes — Abbott, Lieutenant- 
Governor at, 49; Accepts Vir- 
ginia's protection, 624; Ameri- 
cans attack, 265; British force 
at, 198, 299; Capture of, 130; 
Campaign against, 440; Citizens 
take British oath, 674, 228; Con- 
dition, after Clark's capture, 



665; Clark's account of capture 
of, 338; Appoints officers for, 
438; Army at, 326; Arrangement 
before leaving, 780; Conceives 
attack on, 128, 301; Entry into, 
712, .330; Establishes garrison at, 
506; Gets news from, 106; Force 
against, 702; Journal of taking 
of, 757; Leads Kentucky troops 
to, 505; Leaves Kaskaskia for, 
307; Leaves for Falls of Ohio, 
484; March from Kaskaskia to, 
703, 322; Plan for attacking, 586; 
Prepares to attack, 303, 59; 
Proclamation to inhabitants of, 
325, 328; Returns to Kaskaskia, 
769; Second march to, 775; 
Sends spies to, 551; Father Gi- 
bault aids Clark at, 617; Feasts 
of Clark's men on expedition to, 
707; Fiction concerning Clark's 
appearance at, 714; Fort at, 138; 
Garrison at, 472; Hamilton 
agrees to surrender to Clark, 
361; Captures, 221, 670, 224; De- 
termines to recapture force of, 
at, 677; Holds Indian Council 
at, 253; March of, to, 652; Sub- 
mits articles of capitulation for, 
358; Winters at, 239, 675; Helm 
at, 653, 672; Henry announces 
capture of, to Virginia Legisla- 
ture, 377; Importance of surren- 
der of, 735; Militia of, take 
British oath, 244; Population of, 
229; Provisions for Clark's cam- 
paign against, 702; Scene in, at 
Clark's attack, 332; Willing ar- 
rives at, 752. 

"Vincennes Trace," 308, 

Virginia— Cedes Northwest to 
general government, 487, 798; 
Motives in sending Clark 
on campaign, 554; Profited by 
Clark's campaign, 785; Treat- 
ment of Clark by, 798; Sup- 
ports Clark, 268. 

Virginia Legislature— Action taken 
on Clark's campaign, 269; Act 
authorizing campaign, 557; Clark 



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